A  Man  of 
Two  Countries 


Alice  Harriman 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


A  MAN  of  TWO 
COUNTRIES 


BY 

ALICE  HARRIMAN 

Author  of  SONGS  o'  THE  SOUND,  CHAPERONING  ADRIENNE 

THROUGH  THE  YELLOWSTONE,  SONGS  O* 

THE  OLYMPICS,  etc. 


Chapter  Headings  by 
C.    M.    DOWLING 


1910 
THE  ALICE  HARRIMAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  &  SEATTLE 


COPYRIGHT  1910,  BY 

Tax  ALICE  HARRIMAN  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved 


PRINTED  BY 
THE  PREMIER  PRESS 

N«W   YORK 

v.  s.  A. 


TO  THE  READER 

PRIOR  to  the  days  of  the  cowboy  and  the 
range,  the  settler  and  irrigation,  the  State 
and  the  Province,,  an  ebb  and  flow  of  In- 
dians, traders,  trappers,  wolfers,  buffalo-hunters, 
whiskey  smugglers,  missionaries,  prospectors, 
United  States  soldiery  and  newly  organized 
North  West  Mounted  Police  crossed  and  re- 
crossed  the  international  boundary  between  the 
American  Northwest  and  what  was  then  known 
as  the  "Whoop  Up  Country."  This  heterogeneous 
flotsam  and  jetsam  held  some  of  the  material 
from  which  Montana  evolved  its  later  state- 
hood. 

To  one  who  came  to  know  and  to  love  the 
region  after  the  surging  tide  had  exterminated 
the  buffalo  and  worse  than  exterminated  the  In- 
dian,— to  one  who  appreciates  the  limitless  possi- 
bilities of  the  splendid  Commonwealth  of  Mon- 
tana on  the  one  side  and  the  great  Province  of 
Alberta  on  the  other  of  that  invisible  line  which 
now  draws  together  instead  of  separating  men  of 
a  common  tongue,  this  period  seems  tremendously 
interesting.  The  "local  color"  has,  perhaps,  not 
been  squeezed  from  too  many  tubes.  Types  stand 
out;  never  individuals. 

As  types,  therefore,  the  characters  of  this  book 
5 


weave  their  story  as  the  shuttle  of  time,  filled  with 
the  woof  of  hidden  purpose  and  open  deed,  runs 
through  the  warp  of  their  friendships  and  en- 
mities. 

And  with  the  less  attractive  strands  the  shift- 
ing harness  of  place  and  circumstance  enmeshes 
a  thread  of  Love's  gold. 


BOCK     I.     THE  RIVER 
BOOK    II.     THE  PRAIRIE 
BOOK  III.     THE  STATE 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

BOOK  I 

I.  Twisting  the  Lion's  Tail      .       .  .       15 

II.  The  Girl  on  the  Fontenelle         .  .       30 

BOOK  II 

I.  Under  the  Union  Jack        ...       47 

II.  Hate         .        .         .         .         .  .58 

III.  The  Hot  Blood  of  Youth  ...       72 

IV.  The  Return  to  Fort  Benton        .  .       88 

BOOK  III 

I.  Visitors  from  Helena .         .         .  .107 

II.  Charlie  Blair's  Sister  .     125 

III.  A  Man  of  Two  Countries  .         .  .141 

IV.  The  State  Republican  Convention  .     155 

V.  Despair     ...        .         .  .165 

VI.  IlTrovatore 180 

VII.  Debauching  a  Legislature   .         .  .     196 

VIII.  Danvers*  Discouragement  .         .  .211 

IX.  A  Frontier  Knock      .         .         .  .219 

X.  Wheels  Within  Wheels      .         .  .226 

XI.  The  Chinese  Legend          .         .  .241 

XII.  Recognition       .         .        .         .  .251 

XIII.  The  Lobbyist    .         .         .         .  .257 

XIV.  The  Keystone 268 

XV.  An  Unpremeditated  Speech         .  .281 

XVI.  The  Election  291 


BOOK  I 


THE   RIVER 

"  I  beheld  the  westward  marches 
Of  the    .     .    .    nations, 
Restless,  struggling,  toiling,  striving." 

— Longfellow 


PHILIP  DANVERS,  heading  a  small  party 
of  horsemen,  galloped  around  the  corner 
of    a    warehouse    and    pulled    up    on    the 
levee  at  Bismarck  as  the  mate  of  the  Far  West 
bellowed,  "Let 'ergo!" 

"Hold    on!"    he    shouted,    leaping    from    his 
mount. 

"Why    in    blazes!"      The    mate's    impatience 
flared  luridly  as  he  ordered  the  gang-plank  re- 
placed.    His  heat  ignited  the  smouldering  resent- 
ment of  the  passengers,  and  they,  too,  exploded. 
"We're  loaded  to  the  guards  now!"  yelled  one. 
"Yeh  can't  come  aboard!"  threatened  another. 
"Haven't  yeh  got  a  full  passenger  list  a'ready, 
Captain?"  demanded  a  blustering,  heavy-set  man 
with   beetling   eyebrows,    as   he   pushed   himself 

15 


i6 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

angrily  through  the  crowding  men  to  the  deck-rail. 

"Can't  help  it  if  I  have,  Burroughs,"  retorted 
the  autocrat  of  the  river-boat.  "These  troopers 
are  recruits  for  the  North  West  Mounted  Po- 
lice  " 

"The  hell  yeh  say!" 

Philip  Danvers  noted  the  unfriendly  eye,  and 
realized  that  this  burly  fellow  dominated  even 
the  captain. 

"Their  passage  was  engaged  three  months 
ago,"  went  on  the  officer. 

"It's  nothing  to  me,"  affirmed  Burroughs,  red- 
dening in  his  effort  to  regain  his  surface  amenity. 

The  young  trooper,  superintending  the  load- 
ing of  the  horses,  resented  the  manifest  unfriend- 
liness toward  the  English  recruits.  A  dreary  rain 
added  discomfort,  and  the  passengers  growled  at 
the  slow  progress  hitherto  made  against  the 
spring  floods  of  the  turbulent  Missouri  and  this 
prolonged  delay  at  Bismarck. 

As  he  went  up  the  gang-plank  and  walked 
along  the  deck,  bits  of  conversation  came  to  him. 

"He  looks  like  an  officer,"  said  one,  with  a 
jerk  of  his  thumb  in  his  direction. 

"An  officer!  Where?  D'yeh  mean  the  dark- 
haired  one?"  The  voice  was  that  of  Burroughs 
again,  and  as  Danvers  met  his  insolent 
eye  an  instant  antagonism  flashed  between 
the  roughly  dressed  frontiersman  and  the 


TWISTING  THE  LION'S  TAIL ry 

lean-flanked,     broad-shouldered    English    youth. 

"Hello!  'F  there  ain't  Toe  String  Joe!"  con- 
tinued Burroughs,  recognizing  the  last  to  come 
on  board,  as  the  line  was  cast  off  and  the  steamer 
backed  into  the  stream.  "What  you  doin'  here, 
Joe?" 

"I  met  up  with  these  here  Britishers  when  they 
came  in  on  the  train  from  the  East,  an'  I'm  goin' 
t'  enlist,"  admitted  the  shambling  Joe,  his  breath 
confirming  his  appearance.  "Where  you  been?" 

"Back  to  the  States  to  get  my  outfit.  I'm  goin' 
ter  start  in  fer  myself  up  to  Fort  Macleod.  So 
you've  decided  to  be  a  damned  Britisher,  eh?" 
Burroughs  reverted  to  Joe's  statement.  "Yeh'll 
have  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  fer  three  years 
of  enlistment.  Did  yeh  know  that?"  He  closed 
one  eye,  as  if  speculating  how  this  might  further 
his  own  interests.  "You'll  make  a  fine  police,  Joe, 
you  will!"  he  jeered  in  conclusion. 

"You  goin'  to  Fort  Macleod?"  questioned  Joe. 
"You'll  git  no  trade  in  Canada!" 

"Don't  yeh  ever  think  it!"  returned  Burroughs, 
with  a  look  that  Danvers  sub-consciously  noted. 

Beyond  the  crowd  he  saw  a  child,  held  by 
a  man  with  a  scarred  face.  His  involuntary  look 
of  amazement  changed  the  pensiveness  of  her 
delicate  face  to  animation,  and  she  returned  his 
smile.  This  unexpected  exchange  of  friendship 
restored  his  self-respect  and  his  anger  evaporated. 


^8 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

He  recalled  the  childhood  spent  in  English  lanes 
with  his  only  sister.  He  beckoned  enticingly,  and 
soon  she  came  near,  shy  and  lovely. 

"What's  your  name,  little  girl?" 

"Winifred." 

"That's  a  pretty  name,"  said  the  young 
trooper.  "Are  you  going  to  Fort  Benton  with 
your  papa?" 

"No.  Papa's  dead — and — mamma.  That's 
my  brother,"  indicating  the  man  who  had  held 
her.  "He  came  to  get  me.  His  name  is  Charlie." 

"Dear  little  girl!"  thought  Philip  Danvers,  as 
the  child  ran  to  brotherly  arms. 

"Howdy!"  Charlie  gave  unconventional  greet- 
ing as  he  took  a  bench  near  by. 

"I've  been  getting  acquainted  with  your  sister," 
explained  the  Englishman. 

"Glad  of  it.  Winnie's  afraid  of  most  o'  the 
men,  an'  there  aren't  more'n  three  white  women 
up  the  river.  I've  had  to  bring  her  back  with 
me,  and  I  don't  know  much  about  children.  But 
there's  one  good  old  lady  at  Benton,"  the  fron- 
tiersman proceeded,  cheerfully.  "She'll  look 
after  her.  You  see,  I'm  away  most  of  the  time. 
I'm  a  freighter  between  the  head  of  navigation 
and  the  Whoop  Up  Country — Fort  Macleod." 

"Oh!" 

"I  got  the  contract  to  haul  the  supplies  for  the 
North  West  Mounted  Police  this  spring.  I'll  be 


TWISTING  THE  LION'S  TAIL 19 

in  Fort  Macleod  'most  as  soon  as  you,  I  reckon. 
What  is  it,  Winnie?"  he  questioned,  as  the  child 
drew  shrinking  closer  to  him. 

"I  don't  like  that  man,"  asserted  Winifred,  as 
Robert  Burroughs  passed. 

"You  mustn't  say  that,  Winnie,"  reproved 
Charlie.  "Burroughs"  —  addressing  Philip  — 
"Sweet  Oil  Bob,  we  call  him,  is  goin'  to  start  a 
new  tradin'  post  at  Macleod.  He's  clerked  at 
Fort  Benton  till  he  knows  more  about  the  profits 
of  an  Injun  tradin'  post  than  any  man  on  the 
river!  Yeh'll  likely  see  quite  a  little  o'  him. 
Most  of  the  Canadian  traders  'd  rather  he  stayed 
this  side  o'  the  line." 

"Surely  there  are  other  American  traders  in 
this  Whoop  Up  Country,  as  you  call  it." 

"Not  so  many — no.  But  Sweet  Oil  Bob  is 
shrewd,  an'  the  Canadians  are  afraid  he'll  get  the 
biggest  share  o'  the  Injun  trade.  You  know  how 
it  is." 

Before  Danvers  could  answer,  his  attention  was 
caught  by: 

"The  ambition  of  my  life  is  to  sit  on  the  su- 
preme bench  of  some  State,"  spoken  by  a  fair- 
haired  young  man  as  he  passed  with  a  taller,  older 
one.  "Montana  will  be  a  State,  some  day,"  the 
would-be  judge  went  on,  eagerly  boyish. 

"Hello,  Doc,"  called  Charlie,  as  he  sighted  the 
elder  pedestrian.  "Stop  a  minute." 


20 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Before  the  invitation  was  accepted  the  physi- 
cian gave  impetus  to  the  other's  desire. 

"Hope  your  hopes,  Latimer.  Honorable  and 
honest  endeavor  will  reach  the  most  exalted  posi- 
tion." Then  he  put  out  his  hand  to  the  child,  who 
clasped  it  affectionately. 

"Well,  Charlie,"  he  smiled  genially  at  the 
English  lad  as  well  as  on  his  former  river  travel- 
ers. "How  goes  it?" 

"All  right,"  returned  Charlie,  amiably.  "So 
Latimer  wants  to  dabble  in  territorial  politics, 
eh?" 

"I  didn't  say  so,"  flushed  the  embryonic  lawyer. 
"I  said  I'd  like  to  be  a  judge  on  the  supreme 
bench,  some  day.  I'm  going  to  settle  in  Mon- 
tana, and " 

"What  do  you  think  about  politics?"  suddenly 
quizzed  Charlie,  turning  to  Danvers. 

"I'd  not  risk  losing  your  friendship,"  smiled 
Philip,  "by  stating  what  an  Englishman's  opinion 
of  American  politics  are." 

"Better  not,"  laughed  the  doctor,  with  a  keen 
glance  of  appraisal. 

"I'll  admit  they're  rotten,"  Latimer  hastened 
to  add.  "But  I'd  love  to  play  the  game.  No 
political  affiliations  should  bias  my  decision." 

"Bet  you'll  be  glad  to  get  home,  Doc."  Charlie 
changed  the  subject,  so  foreign  to  his  out-of-door 
interests.  "You  can't  keep  the  doctor  away  from 


TWISTING  THE  LION'S  TAIL 21 

Fort  Benton,"  he  explained  to  the  two  strangers. 
"He  thinks  she's  got  a  big  future,  don't  you, 
Doc?" 

"To  be  sure !  To  be  sure !"  corroborated  the 
physician,  as  his  arm  went  around  the  little  girl. 
"Fort  Benton  will  be  a  second  St.  Louis!  Mark 
my  words,  Latimer."  He  turned  to  his  com- 
panion, whose  charm  of  manner  appealed  uncon- 
sciously to  the  reserved  Danvers. 

"I  hope  your  predictions  may  prove  correct, 
since  I  am  to  set  up  a  law  office  there,"  replied 
Latimer.  "And  you?"  He  turned  to  include 
Philip  Danvers  in  a  smile  which  the  lonely  Eng- 
lishman never  forgot. 

"He  an'  I  's  for  Fort  Macleod,"  explained 
Scar  Faced  Charlie,  before  Philip  could  speak. 
These  ready  frontiersmen  had  a  way  of  taking 
the  words  out  of  his  mouth. 

"He's  for  the  Mounted  Police,  yeh  know,  an' 
I'm  freightin'  in  the  supplies.  An'  what  d'yeh 
think,  Doc?  Toe  String  Joe  says  he's  goin'  to 
enlist  when  we  get  to  Fort  Benton.  Burroughs 
won't  mind  havin'  him  in  the  Force." 

"Isn't  it  unusual  for  Canadian  troopers  to  come 
through  the  United  States?"  inquired  Arthur 
Latimer. 

This  time  it  was  the  doctor  who  answered  the 
question  directed  toward  the  silent  Danvers. 

"The  first  companies  marched  overland  from 


22 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Winnipeg  two  years  ago,  when  the  North  West 
Mounted  Police  was  organized,  and  a  tough  time 
they  had.  They  were  six  months  making  it,  what 
with  hostile  Indians  and  one  thing  and  another, 
and  at  last  they  got  lost  in  an  awful  snowstorm 
(winter  set  in  early  that  year),  and  they  nearly 
died  of  cold  and  starvation — most  of  their  horses 
did.  An  Indian  brought  word  to  one  of  the  trad- 
ing posts.  Remember  that  rescue,  Charlie?"  He 
turned  for  corroboration  to  the  freighter,  but  con- 
tinued, without  waiting  for  an  answer  that  was 
quite  unnecessary  to  prod  the  reminiscent  doctor. 

"Fort  Macleod  is  only  two  hundred  miles  north 
of  Fort  Benton,"  he  concluded,  "and  I  understand 
the  recruits  will  hereafter  be  taken  into  the 
Whoop  Up  Country  by  way  of  the  Missouri." 

The  blue  eyes  of  the  lawyer  instinctively 
sought  the  dark  ones  of  the  young  trooper  in  a 
bond  of  subtle  feeling  at  this  recital  of  pioneer 
life.  It  was  all  in  the  future  for  them. 

"We  came  from  Ottawa  by  rail  to  Bismarck," 
explained  Danvers  at  the  unspoken  question,  "and 
brought  our  horses." 

"They  are  a  civil  force  under  military  disci- 
pline," added  the  doctor  to  Latimer's  question- 
ing eyes. 

As  they  talked,  the  steamboat  came  to  a  series 
of  rapids,  and  Danvers  and  Latimer  went  to  the 
prow  to  watch  the  warping  of  the  boat  over  the 


TWISTING  THE  LION'S  TAIL 23 

obstruction.  Burroughs  stood  near,  and  took  no 
pains  to  lower  his  voice  as  he  remarked  to  the 
mate:  "Jes'  watch  my  smoke.  I'm  goin'  to  twist 
the  lion's  tail." 

"Meanin'  the  feller  with  the  black  hair?"  The 
mate  looked  critically  at  Danvers.  "Better  leave 
him  alone,  Burroughs,"  he  advised.  "Yeh've 
been  achin'  to  git  at  him  ever  since  yeh  set  eyes  on 
him.  What's  eatin'  yeh?" 

"Yeh  talk  too  much  with  yer  mouth,"  flung 
back  Burroughs,  as  he  moved  toward  the  English- 
man. "Ever  been  up  the  river  before?"  he  de- 
manded of  Danvers. 

"No."  Philip  barely  glanced  away  from  the 
lusty  roustabouts  working  the  donkey  engines. 

"Are  yeh  a  'non-com'  or  a  commissioned  offi- 
cer?" 

The  young  recruit  turned  stiffly,  surprised  at 
the  persistence. 

"Neither,"  he  answered,  laconically,  returning 
to  the  survey  of  the  swearing,  sweating  crew. 
Several  bystanders  laughed,  and  the  mate  re- 
marked: 

"You'll  git  nothin'  outer  that  pilgrim  that's 
enlightenin',  Bob.  He's  too  clost  mouthed." 

"Some  say  'neether'  an'  some  say  'nayther,' 
but  'nyther'  is  right,"  sneered  Burroughs,  "fer 
the  Prince  o'  Wales  says  'nyther.'  ' 

Danvers,   disdaining  to  notice  the  cheap  wit, 


24 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

watched  the  brilliant  sunshine  struggling  through 
the  lessening  rain  as  it  danced  from  eddy  to 
sand-bar,  from  rapids  to  half-submerged  snags. 
The  boiling  river  whitened  as  the  steamboat  la- 
bored to  deeper  water  above  the  rapids.  The 
islands,  flushed  with  the  fresh  growth  of  a  North- 
ern spring,  and  the  newly  formed  shore-line  where 
the  capricious  Missouri  had  recently  undermined 
a  stretch  of  bank,  gave  character  to  the  scene,  as 
did  the  delicately  virent  leaves  of  swirling  wil- 
low, quaking  aspens  and  cottonwoods  loosened 
from  their  place  on  shore  to  float  in  midstream. 

A  party  of  yelling  Crees  attracted  their  atten- 
tion, and  the  stranger's  indifference  gave  a  com- 
bative twist  to  Burroughs'  remark: 

"Them's  Canadian  Injuns." 

Something  in  his  tone  made  the  men  draw 
nearer.  Was  it  a  sneer?  A  slur  on  all  things 
English?  A  challenge  to  resent  the  statement, 
and  resenting,  to  show  one's  mettle?  Frontiers- 
men on  the  upper  Missouri  fought  at  a  word  in 
the  early  seventies.  No  need  for  cause.  Men 
had  been  shot  for  less  animus  than  Burroughs 
displayed. 

"A  fight?"  asked  Scar  Faced  Charlie,  drawn 
from  the  cabin. 

"No;  a  prayer-meeting,"  Toe  String  Joe  gave 
facetious  answer. 

"Run  back  to  our  stateroom,   Winnie,"   said 


TWISTING  THE  LION'S  TAIL 25 

Charlie,  as  he  glanced  at  Burroughs'  face. 
"What's  the  matter?"  he  inquired  as  she  obeyed. 

"Search  me."  Joe  still  acted  as  fourth  dimen- 
sion. "Bob  and  Danvers  seem  to  hate  each  other 
on  sight." 

Burroughs  moved  nearer  the  quiet  trooper. 

"The  Mounted  Police  think  they're  goin'  to 
stop  whiskey  sellin'  to  the  Injuns,"  he  began. 

"But  they  can't.  I  know "  A  meaning  wink 

at  his  friends  implied  disloyalty  even  in  the  Force. 

The  baited  youth  faced  the  trader,  his  coun- 
tenance darkening.  But  his  hand  unclasped  as 
he  started  for  the  cabin  with  Latimer.  Why  no- 
tice this  loud  talk?  Why  debase  himself  by  fight- 
ing this  unknown  bully?  His  bearing  voiced  his 
thoughts.  The  expectant  crowd  looked  noncom- 
mittally  at  the  tall  smokestacks,  at  the  snags. 
Burroughs  laughed  noisily. 

"  'The  widdy  at  Windsor'  's  got  another 
pretty!"  he  taunted.  Hate  flared  suddenly  from 
his  deep-set  eyes;  he  could  not  have  analyzed  its 
cause.  "Jes'  cut  loose  from  home  an'  mammy," 
he  continued,  intemperately.  "Perhaps  he's  the 
queen's  latest  favorite,  boys.  We  all  know  what 
women  are!" 

What  was  it?  A!  crash  of  thunder?  A  living 
bolt  of  fire?  Something  threw  the  intervening 
men  violently  to  the  deck.  The  stripling  who  had 
accepted  the  traditional  shilling  brushed  the 


26 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

crowd  aside  and  knocked  down  the  slanderer  of 
all  women — and  of  his  queen! 

"Take  that  back!"  Philip  breathed,  not 
shouted,  as  one  less  angry  might  have  done. 
"You  will  not?  You  shall!" 

Burroughs  sprang  to  his  feet  instantly  and  re- 
turned the  blow  valiantly.  He  did  not  draw  his 
Colt's  as  frontiersmen  were  prone  to  do,  for  he 
thought  that  a  knock-down  fight  would  show  that 
a  man  must  not  stand  too  much  on  dignity  on  the 
upper  Missouri.  Besides,  the  lad  was  English, 
therefore  to  be  punished. 

At  once  the  trifling  affair  widened  into  a  pro- 
miscuous scrimmage  of  recruits  against  civilians. 
In  the  excitement  Winifred,  frightened  at  the 
uproar,  came  searching  for  her  brother,  just  as 
Danvers  again  delivered  a  blow  that  sent  Bur- 
roughs reeling  against  the  deck  railing.  It  was 
not  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  collision  and 
the  aggressor  in  the  fight  barely  kept  his  balance 
as  the  wood  broke.  But  Winifred,  pushed  for- 
ward by  the  struggling  men,  clutched  at  the  air 
and  dropped  into  the  whirling  yellow  river  far 
below. 

"My  God!"  groaned  Charlie,  springing  after 
her.  But  his  leap  was  preceded  by  that  of  Philip 
Danvers. 

The  alarm  was  given;  the  engines  reversed. 
As  the  roustabouts  jumped  to  lower  the  boats  the 


TWISTING  THE  LION'S  TAIL 27 

men  pressed  forward,  but  the  mate  beat  them 
back  and  got  the  crew  to  work. 

Nowhere  could  the  soft  curls  be  seen.  Charlie, 
nearly  drawn  into  the  revolving  paddles,  was 
taken  into  the  boat.  Presently  the  watchers  saw 
Winifred's  little  red  dress  caught  on  an  uprooted 
sapling.  Tree  and  child  were  in  the  center  of  the 
current.  While  so  much  debris  stayed  near  the 
shore  or  drifted  on  the  shallow  sand-bars,  this 
one  tree  with  its  human  freight  hurried  on. 

"Save  her!  Save  her!"  sobbed  Scar  Faced 
Charlie,  kept  by  force  from  jumping  again  into 
the  stream.  "Let  me  go!"  he  roared. 

"No,  Charlie,"  said  the  mate  firmly.  "We're 
goin'  to  pick  up  yer  sister  an'  Danvers.  No  need 
fer  yeh  to  risk  yer  life  again.  That  English  lad 
is  goin'  to  turn  the  trick." 

Philip  swam  on,  strongly,  while  vociferous 
ejaculations  reached  him. 

"That  feller's  got  sand!"  he  heard  Joe  say,  as 
he  dexterously  avoided  a  whirlpool  and  dodged 
a  snag. 

"He's  a  fool!" 

"He'll  drown,  an'  the  girl,  too!" 

"It's  caught — he'll  overtake  her!" 

A  devilfish-like  snag  held  tree  and  burden. 
With  a  burst  of  speed  Philip  swam  alongside. 
Winifred?  Thank  God!  Still  alive,  although 


28 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

unconscious;    face    white,    eyes    closed.     As    he 
grasped  her,  her  eyes  opened. 

After  the  excitement,  the  shouts  and  the  curs- 
ings, the  crashing  of  wood  and  the  fighting,  quiet 
reigned  on  the  Far  West. 

Robert  Burroughs,  sitting  in  the  long  northern 
twilight,  rubbed  his  sore  muscles  while  Scar  Faced 
Charlie  and  the  doctor  paced  the  deck. 

"Danvers  did  a  big  thing.  He  saved  my  sis- 
ter's life.  I'll  never  forget  it.  If  the  time  ever 
comes  I'll  do  as  much  for  him,"  declared  Charlie. 

"Perhaps  you  may,"  mused  the  doctor.  "We 
can  never  tell  what  the  future  holds.  Perhaps 
you'll  not  save  his  life,  but  life  isn't  everything. 
He  may  ask  you  to  do  something  that  you  won't 
want  to  do." 

The  grating  of  the  steamer  on  a  sand-bar  in- 
terrupted him. 

Brought  into  high  relief  by  the  rising  moon, 
the  lead-man  stationed  forward  called: 

"Four  feet  scant — four  feet — by  the  lead  five 
n'  a  half!  No  bottom!"  Then  came: 

"Three — t-h-r-e-e — f-e-e-t — scant !"  Again  the 
boat  scraped  the  sand. 

As  the  pilot  shouted  down  the  tube  to  the 
engineers  to  pile  on  more  steam  Charlie  reverted 
to  the  rescue. 

"Danvers  looked  pretty  well  used  up  when  he 


TWISTING  THE  LION'S  TAIL 29 

was  brought  aboard.  But  darned  if  he  yipped. 
He  was  all  for  lookin'  after  Winnie." 

"I  like  the  lad,"  nodded  the  doctor  approv- 
ingly. "He  has  the  gift  of  silence.  Shakespeare 
says :  'Give  thy  thoughts  no  tongue.'  ' 

In  their  next  turn  they  saw  Burroughs. 

"It'll  never  do  for  you  to  locate  at  Macleod, 
Bob,  'f  you're  goin'  to  aggravate  every  recruit 
you  don't  happen  to  like,"  suggested  Charlie,  with 
the  privilege  of  friendship. 

"I  was  a  fool!"  Burroughs  confessed.  "But 
somehow  that  youngster " 

"You  an'  he'll  always  be  like  two  bull  buffalo 
in  a  herd,"  said  Charlie,  wisely. 

"I'll  do  him  yet,"  snarled  Burroughs,  as  he 
rose  to  go  to  the  cabin. 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


THE  passengers  on  the  Far  /F£5f  rose  early. 
Danvers  stood  watching  the  slow  sun 
uplift  from  the  gently  undulating  prairie. 
He  threw  back  his  head,  his  lungs  expanded  as 
though  he  could  not  get  enough  of  the  air.  He 
did  not  know  why,  but  he  suddenly  felt  him- 
self a  part  of  the  country — felt  that  this  great, 
open  country  was  his.  The  banks  of  the  Mis- 
souri were  not  high  and  he  had  an  unobstructed 
view  of  the  vast,  grassy  sea  rolling  uncounted 
miles  away  to  where  the  sky  came  down  to  the 
edge  of  the  world. 

The  song  of  the  meadow  lark,  sweet  and  in- 
cessant as  it  balanced  on  a  rosin-weed,  of  the 
lark  bunting  and  lark  finch,  poured  forth  melodi- 
ously; twittering  blue-birds  looked  into  the  air 


THE  GIRL  ON  THE  FONTENELLE         31 

and  back  to  their  perch  atop  the  dead  cotton- 
wood  as  they  gathered  luckless  insects ;  the  brown 
thrush,  which  sings  the  night  through  in  the 
bright  starlight,  rivaled  the  robin  and  grosbeak 
as  Philip  gazed  over  the  blue-skyed,  green-grassed 
land.  The  blue-green  of  the  ocean  had  not  so 
fascinated  as  the  mysticism  of  this  broad  view. 
He  was  glad  to  be  alive,  and  anxious  to  be  in  the 
riot  of  life  on  the  plains,  where  trappers,  traders 
and  soldiers  moved  in  the  strenuous  game  of 
making  a  new  world. 

His  abounding  vitality  had  recouped  itself  after 
the  strain  of  yesterday  and  he  forgot  its  unpleas- 
antness in  the  glorious  morning;  yet  at  the  sight 
of  Burroughs  coming  from  his  cabin,  the  sunlight 
dulled  and  involuntarily  he  felt  himself  grow 
tense. 

"I  didn't  mean  a  damn  thing,"  began  Bur- 
roughs awkwardly. 

"That's  all  right,"  broke  in  Philip,  as  uncom- 
fortable as  the  other. 

Just  then  the  doctor,  with  Joe  and  Charlie, 
came  on  the  upper  deck. 

"What  'd  I  tell  you,  Charlie?"  triumphantly 
asked  the  physician,  as  he  saw  the  trader  and 
trooper  shaking  hands. 

"What  'd  you  tell  us?"  repeated  the  man  with 
the  scarred  face,  in  doubt,  as  Burroughs  moved 
away  and  Danvers  turned  toward  the  prow  of 


32 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  boat  staring,  with  eyes  that  saw  not,  into  the 
western  unknown. 

"Didn't  I  tell  you  that  Bob  would  do  the  right 
thing?"  asked  the  charitable  surgeon  impatiently, 
unconscious  that  he  had  voiced  no  such  sentiment. 

The  three  looked  at  the  river  and  at  the  long 
lances  of  light  streaming  from  the  East,  then  at 
the  English  youth,  abstracted,  aloof. 

"Perhaps  yeh  did,"  assented  Joe,  easily.  "But 
I  know  one  thing.  It'll  stick  in  Bob's  crop  that 
he  craw-fished "  A  nod  indicated  his  mean- 
ing. "Somehow  Danvers  strikes  me  as  a  stuck-up 
Britisher." 

"A  man  shouldn't  be  damned  for  his  look  or 
his  manner,"  exploded  the  doctor,  although  he 
recognized  the  truth  of  the  criticism.  "He's 
young  and  self-conscious.  A  year  or  two  in  the 
Whoop  Up  Country  will  season  him  and  be  the 
making  of  him." 

"He'll  not  always  stay  in  the  Whoop  Up  Coun- 
try," Charlie  said,  presciently.  "I  wish  I  could 
do  something  for  him,"  he  added.  "He'll  make 
his  mark — somehow — somewhere." 

"Prophesying,  eh?"  smiled  the  doctor.  "All 
right;  we'll  see." 

The  light-draft,  flat-bottomed  Far  West  made 
slow  progress.  The  dead  and  broken  snags,  the 
"sawyers"  of  river  parlance,  fast  in  the  sand- 
bars, seemed  waiting  to  impale  the  steamboat. 


THE  GIRL  ON  THE  FQNTENELLE        33 

The  lead-man  called  unceasingly  from  his  posi- 
tion. One  bluff  yielded  to  another,  a  flat  suc- 
ceeded to  a  grove  where  wild  roses  burst  into 
riotous  bloom,  and  over  all  lay  the  enchantment 
of  the  gay,  palpitant,  young  summer. 

The  journey  was  monotonous  until,  with  a  bend 
of  the  river,  they  sighted  another  steamer,  the 
Fontenelle,  stuck  fast  on  Spread  Eagle  Bar — the 
worst  bar  of  the  Missouri.  Among  the  passen- 
gers at  the  rail  Philip  Danvers  saw — could  it  be? 
a  woman — a  white  woman,  young  and  beautiful. 
What  could  be  her  mission  in  that  far  country 
which  seemed  so  vast  to  the  young  Englishman 
that  each  day's  journey  put  years  of  civilization 
behind  him? 

The  girl  on  the  Fontenelle  was  evidently  en- 
joying the  situation,  and  Danvers  discovered  at 
once  that  she  was  holding  court  on  her  own  boat 
as  well  as  commanding  tribute  from  the  Far  West. 
The  men  about  him  stared  eagerly  at  the  slender, 
imperious  figure,  while  Burroughs  procured  a 
glass  from  the  mate  and  feasted  his  eyes. 

"I'm  goin'  to  see  her  at  closer  range,"  he  de- 
clared, and  soon  had  persuaded  the  captain  to  let 
him  have  a  rowboat. 

Philip  and  Latimer,  by  this  time  good  friends, 
watched  the  trader  go  on  board  and  disappear 
into  the  cabin. 


34 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"The  nerve  of  that  man  amazes  me!"  declared 
Latimer.  "What  can  he  be  thinking  of?" 

"Of  the  girl,  and  the  first  chance  at  Fort  Ben- 
ton!"  answered  the  doctor,  who  joined  the  two 
in  time  to  catch  the  remark.  "If  you'd  known 
Bob  Burroughs  as  long  as  I  have  at  Fort  Benton, 
you  wouldn't  be  surprised  at  anything.  He's  de- 
termined to  win,  wherever  you  put  him,  and  he'll 
make  money  easy  enough." 

"But  his  eagerness  and  offensiveness "  be- 
gan Danvers. 

"It  isn't  so  much  ignorance,"  explained  the  doc- 
tor, always  ready  to  give  credit  wherever  due. 
"He  can  talk  English  well  enough  when  he  thinks 
there  is  any  occasion.  He's  one  of  the  self-made 
sort,  you  know.  But  he  doesn't  estimate  men  cor- 
rectly— puts  them  all  a  little  too  low — and  that's 
where  he's  going  to  lose  the  game." 

When  Burroughs  came  back  he  was  met  with  a 
fusillade  of  questions. 

"Who  is  she,  Bob?" 

"Major  Thornhill's  daughter,  Eva  Thornhill." 

"Didn't  know  he  had  a  daughter,"  quoth  Joe. 
"He  never  tol'  me " 

This  created  a  laugh,  as  Joe  meant  it  should. 

"The  major  hasn't  been  so  social  since  he  was 
stationed  at  Fort  Benton,  as  to  tell  us  his  family 
affairs,"  reminded  Charlie. 

"Bob's  thinkin'  o'  that  girl,"  surmised  the  mate, 


THE  GIRL  ON  THE  FONTENELLE        35 

openly,  as  Burroughs  looked  longingly  toward  the 
Fontenelle. 

The  boats,  obstructed  by  the  bar,  were  delayed 
the  better  part  of  two  days,  and  came  to  feel  quite 
neighborly.  The  enamoured  Burroughs  made  an- 
other call,  but  he  came  back  with  a  grievance. 

"She  wanted  to  know  who  the  fellow  was  with 
the  complexion  like  a  girl's.  I  told  her  that  if 
she  meant  Danvers,"  here  he  turned  toward  the 
object  of  his  comment,  "that  he  was  nothin'  but 
a  private  in  the  Canadian  North  West  Mounted 
Police.  She  wasn't  interested  then,"  maliciously. 

"Army  girls  don't  look  at  anything  under  a 
lieutenant,  you  bet!"  seconded  Toe  String  Joe. 
"She  probably  won't  even  take  any  notice  of  me!" 

"She'd  heard,  through  the  captain,  about  the 
'hero'  who  saved  Charlie's  sister,  and  she  wanted 
to  know  all  about  it,"  sneered  Burroughs. 

"Did  you  tell  her  how  the  railin'  happened  to 
break?"  insinuated  Charlie. 

Philip  Danvers  remembered  the  fling.  How- 
ever, what  did  it  matter  what  Miss  Thornhill 
thought  of  him  or  his  position?  He  would  prob- 
ably never  meet  her.  Yet  as  the  Far  West  fol- 
lowed the  Fontenelle  up  the  river,  he  watched  the 
girl's  face  turned,  seemingly,  toward  him;  and 
as  the  first  steamer  disappeared  around  a  bend, 
the  alluring  eyes  seemed  like  will-o'-the-wisps 
drawing  him  on.  As  he  turned,  other  eyes,  soft 


36 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

and  affectionate,  were  upraised  to  his,  and  a 
child's  hand  crept  into  his  with  mute  sympathy. 

And  thus  by  following  the  endless  turn  and 
twist  of  the  erratic  Missouri;  warping  over  rapids 
and  sticking  on  sand-bars;  running  by  banks  un- 
dermined by  the  flood;  shaving  here  a  shore  and 
hugging  there  a  bar;  after  the  tie-ups  to  clean  the 
boilers,  or  to  get  wood,  or  to  wait  for  the  high 
winds  to  abate;  after  perils  by  water  and  danger 
from  roving  Indians,  the  Far  West  swung  around 
the  last  curve  of  the  river  and  behold — Fort  Ben- 
ton.  The  passengers  cheered;  the  crowds  on  the 
levees  answered,  while  fluttering  flags  blossomed 
from  boat  and  adobe  fort  and  trading  posts  as 
wild  roses  blossom  in  spring. 

"Whew!"  whistled  the  doctor,  wiping  his  fore- 
head as  he  joined  Philip  and  Latimer  on  the  prow 
of  the  steamer.  "It's  warm.  Here  we  are,  at 
last.  I  wish,"  turning  to  Danvers,  "that  you  were 
going  to  stay  here.  Latimer  and  I  will  miss  you." 

"Indeed  we  shall!"  echoed  the  young  lawyer. 
"Here  we've  just  gotten  to  be  friends  and  you 
must  leave  us.  But  you  must  write,  old  boy,  and 
if  I  don't  make  a  success  of  the  law  business  at 
Fort  Benton,  I'll  run  up  to  Fort  Macleod  and 
make  you  a  visit,  while  I  look  over  the  situation." 

The  Americanism  of  the  phrase  "law  business" 
struck  oddly  on  British  ears,  as  lacking  in  dignity. 
Philip  thought  of  "doctor  business,"  "artist  busi- 


TOE  GIRL  ON  THE  FONTENELLE        37 

ness,"  and  wondered  if  Americans  spoke  thus  of 
all  professions.  Latimer  changed  the  subject. 

"Is  this  all  there  is  to  Fort  Benton?"  with  a 
wave  of  his  hand. 

"Sure,"  answered  the  doctor,  offended,  "what 
did  you  expect — a  St.  Louis?" 

"N-o,"  hesitated  the  lawyer,  divided  between 
a  desire  to  gird  at  the  doctor,  or  to  soothe  his 
civic  pride.  "But  I'll  confess  I  expected  a  town 
somewhat  larger,  for  the  port  of  entry  of  the 
territory  of  Montana." 

"Thirty  years  from  now  Fort  Benton  will  be 
a  second  St.  Louis,"  affirmed  the  doctor,  oracu- 
larly. "The  river  traffic  will  be  enormous  by  that 
time." 

The  physician's  faith  in  the  ultimate  settlement 
of  the  Northwest  and  Fort  Benton's  consequent 
growth  was  shared,  Danvers  knew,  by  many  an- 
other enthusiast;  but  as  he  looked  back,  mentally, 
over  the  lonely,  wind-swept  miles  through  which 
the  Missouri  flowed,  uninhabited  save  by  a  few 
adventurers,  trappers  and  Indians,  the  prediction 
seemed  preposterous. 

"So  the  town  looks  small  to  you,  eh?"  asked 
the  doctor,  returning  to  Latimer's  comment. 
"But  let  me  tell  you,  Fort  Benton  does  the  busi- 
ness! Our  boats  bring  in  the  year's  supply  for 
the  mining  camps,  for  the  Indian  agencies,  for  the 
military  posts  and  for  the  Canadian  Mounted 


38 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Police.  No  other  town  in  the  West  has  its  fu- 
ture." 

The  three  were  silent  for  a  time.  The  little 
town  was  very  attractive,  nestling  in  the  bend  of 
the  Missouri  and  protected  by  the  bluffs  in  their 
springtime  tints. 

Several  stern-wheelers,  many  mackinaws,  and 
smaller  boats  lay  along  the  water  front. 

The  Fontenelle,  first  to  arrive,  was  discharging 
her  cargo.  Danvers,  boy-like,  took  a  certain  pride 
in  knowing  that  even  the  Canadians,  through  the 
establishment  of  the  North  West  Mounted  Police 
and  their  immediate  needs,  were  adding  to  the 
prosperity  of  this  Northwestern  center.  Much 
sectional  talk  among  the  passengers  had  strength- 
ened his  opinion  that  Americans  were  unfair  and 
unjust  to  their  brothers  of  a  common  language, 
though  when  it  came  to  business,  he  noticed  that 
the  loudest  talkers  were  the  most  anxious  to  secure 
Canadian  trade. 

The  longer  Philip  looked  at  Fort  Benton  the 
more  he  was  attracted.  Decisions  about  places 
are  as  intuitive  as  convictions  about  people.  One 
place  is  liked,  another  disliked,  and  no  logical 
reason  can  be  given  for  either.  Fort  Benton,  that 
blue  and  golden  day,  touched  his  heart  so  deeply 
that  the  sentiment  never  left  him.  Others  might 
see  only  a  raw,  rough  frontier  trading  post;  but 
for  the  trooper,  the  glamour  of  the  West  was 


THE  GIRL  ON  THE  FONTENELLE        39 

mingled  with  the  faint,  curling  smoke  dissolving 
into  the  clear  atmosphere.  He  had  been  right  in 
his  strong  impulse  to  cross  the  seas!  Never  had 
he  been  more  sure. 

By  this  time  the  steamer  had  cautiously  nosed 
its  way  to  its  moorings  and  tied  up  to  a  snubbing 
post.  An  officer  from  Fort  Macleod  came  on 
board  to  look  after  his  recruits,  and  in  the  bustle 
of  landing  Philip  saw  Scar  Faced  Charlie  and 
little  Winifred  but  a  moment.  Soon  the  doctor 
and  Latimer  disappeared  around  the  end  of  a 
long  warehouse  on  their  way  to  the  hotel,  after  a 
promise  to  look  him  up  on  the  morrow. 

The  captain  was  ordering  his  men,  and  pres- 
ently Burroughs  sauntered  near. 

"Well,  here  we  are!  I  wonder  'f  I'll  see  Miss 
Thornhill  again?"  As  Danvers  made  no  reply. 
Burroughs  smiled  heavily.  "I'll  see  yeh  agin. 
Likely  I'll  pull  m'  freight  soon  after  you  do  and 
we'll  meet  at  Macleod." 

"G'bow  thar!  ye  cussed,  Texas  horned  toad! 
Haw,  thar!  ye  bull-headed  son  of  a  gun,  pull 
ahead !  Whoa  !  Haw !  Ye  long-horned,  mack- 
erel-back cross  between  a  shanghai  rooster  an'  a 
mud-hen,  I'll  skin  ye  alive  in  about  a  minute!" 
The  pop  of  a  bull-whip  followed  like  a  pistol  shot. 

These  vibrating  adjurations,  rending  the  balmy 
Sunday  air,  would  have  amazed  and  shocked  the 


40 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

citizens  of  a  more  cultured  community,  but  served 
in  Fort  Benton  merely  to  start  Scar  Faced  Char- 
lie's bull-team,  loaded  almost  beyond  hauling. 

Charlie's  shouts,  delivered  in  the  vernacular 
which  he  avoided  when  his  small  kin  was  near, 
waked  Philip  Danvers,  and  soon  he  was  outside 
the  walls  of  the  'dobe  fort  which  Major  Thorn- 
hill  had  courteously  placed  at  the  service  of  the 
Canadian  officer  and  his  recruits.  He  called  to 
the  driver  and  fell  into  step  beside  the  bull-team 
heading  for  the  western  bluffs,  while  the  bull- 
whacker  told  him  that  little  Winifred  was  being 
cared  for  by  "a  real  nice  old  lady." 

As  he  returned  to  town,  after  a  pleasant  good- 
by,  he  turned  more  than  once  to  note  the  slow, 
swinging  plod  of  the  bulls.  Finally  he  walked 
more  briskly,  and,  finding  the  doctor  and  Latimer, 
they  sought  the  levees,  where  the  bustle  and  hustle 
of  the  frontier  town  were  most  apparent.  Early 
as  it  was,  the  river-front  was  thronged  with  river- 
men,  American  and  English  soldiers;  traders, 
busy,  preoccupied  and  alert;  clerks,  examining  and 
checking  off  goods;  bull-whackers  and  mule-skin- 
ners; wolfers  and  trappers,  half-breeds  and 
Indians,  gamblers  and  squaws — all  constantly 
shifting  and  reforming  into  kaleidoscopic  groups 
and  jovial  comradeship. 

Everywhere  he  encountered  the  covert  hostility 
toward  the  English,  but  it  was  not  until  late 


THE  GIRL  ON  THE  FQNTENELLE         41 

in  the  afternoon  that  it  became  openly  manifest. 

"Hi  there!"  a  staggering  man  hiccoughed  as 
he  turned  to  follow  Philip  and  his  American 
friends. 

"Go  slow,  so's  folks  c'n  take  yeh  in.  I'm  goin' 
to  kick  yeh  off'n  the  face  of  the  earth,"  he  con- 
tinued, prodding  uncertainly  at  Danvers.  "Stop, 
I  tell  yeh!  Why  do  I  want  yeh  to  walk  slow? 
'Cos  (hie)  I  want  to  wipe  the  road  up  with  yer 
English  hide.  Yeh  think  yeh're  all  ri',  but  yeh 
ain't.  Yeh  look's  if  yeh  owned  the  town,  an' 
yeh're  walk's  convincin',  yeh " 

"That's  \Yild  Cat  Bill,"  said  the  kindly  man  of 
drugs,  seeking  to  remove  the  sting  whose  effect 
Danvers  only  partially  succeeded  in  concealing,  as 
they  outdistanced  the  drunken  man.  "He's  osten- 
sibly a  wolfer,  a  man  who  kills  wolves  by  scat- 
tering poisoned  buffalo  meat  on  the  prairies  in 
winter,  you  know,"  he  interjected,  "and  then 
makes  his  rounds  later  to  gather  up  the  dead 
wolves  which  have  feasted  not  wisely,  but  too 
well.  He's  a  great  friend  of  Sweet  Oil  Bob's." 

Before  Danvers  had  time  to  speak  they  passed 
Burroughs  in  close  conversation  with  Toe  String 
Joe. 

"Those  three !  Bob  and  Joe  and  Bill !"  snorted 
the  doctor  contemptuously.  "You'll  likely  see 
considerable  of  Bob's  friends  if  he  goes  to  Mac- 
leod.  He  might  be  'most  anything  he  liked — he's 


42 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

clever  enough,  but  unscrupulous.  He's  crafty 
enough  to  get  the  most  of  his  work  done  by  his 
confreres.  He  can  speak  English  as  well  as  I  can, 
but  he  thinks  bad  grammar  will  give  him  a  stand- 
in  with  the  frontiersmen.  And  it's  easy  for  a  man 
to  live  on  a  lower  level.  He'll  be  sorry  some  day 
to  find  himself  out  of  practice,  when  the  right  girl 
comes  along." 

"Here  he  comes — he's  behind  us,"  warned 
Latimer. 

As  Burroughs  passed  them  he  threw  a  glance 
of  triumph  that  was  unexplainable  until  a  corner 
turned  brought  to  view  Major  Thornhill,  also 
walking  abroad,  accompanied  by  his  daughter. 
Burroughs,  smooth,  ingratiating,  joined  them  as 
if  by  appointment. 

After  Philip  retired  that  night  the  monotone 
of  the  soldiers'  talk  merged  into  confused  and 
indistinct  recollections  of  his  first  Sunday  at  Fort 
Benton.  Eva  Thornhill's  scornful  yet  inviting 
face  seemed  drawing  him  through  deep  waters, 
to  be  replaced  by  the  face  of  the  child  Winifred, 
terror-stricken  as  when  she  was  in  the  river.  Then 
came  the  memory  of  the  even-song  at  home, 
threading  its  sweetly  haunting  way  through  the 
wild  shouts  of  a  frontier  town  that  continued 
joyously  its  night  of  revelry,  until,  at  last,  he  fell 
asleep. 


BOOK  II 


THE  PRAIRIE 

"  On  Darden  plain 

The  fresh  and  yet  unbrulsed  Greeks  do  pitch 
Their  brave  pavilions." 

— Troilus  and  Cressida 


45 


THE  arrival  of  the  troopers  at  Fort  Mac- 
leod,  after  the  long  journey  on  horse- 
back over  the  prairie,  was  a  relief  to 
Philip  Danvers,  and  the  weeks  that  followed  were 
full  of  interest.  Nevertheless,  he  felt  a  loneliness 
which  was  all  the  greater  when  he  remembered 
his  new-found  friends  at  Fort  Benton.  The  two 
hundred  miles  that  separated  him  from  the  doctor 
and  Arthur  Latimer  might  have  been  two  thou- 
sand for  all  he  saw  of  them,  and  save  for  an 
occasional  letter  from  the  hopeful  Southerner  he 
had  little  that  could  be  called  companionship. 
Among  all  the  troopers  and  traders  there  were 
none  that  appealed  to  Danvers,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  the  devotion  of  O'Dwyer  he  would  have 
been  alone  indeed. 

47 


48 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

This  gay  Irish  trooper  had  come  out  the  year 
previous,  and  when  the  recruits  arrived  from  Fort 
Benton  had  been  the  first  to  welcome  them,  "from 
the  owld  counthry."  There  was  nothing  in  com- 
mon between  the  silent  Englishman  and  this  son 
of  Erin,  but  from  the  night  when  Danvers  had 
discovered  him,  some  miles  from  the  Fort,  de- 
serted by  his  two  convivial  companions,  and  had 
assisted  him  to  the  barracks,  O'Dwyer  had  been 
his  loyal  subject  and  devoted  slave. 

Now,  after  three  months,  his  zeal  had  not 
abated,  and  while  Danvers  lay  stretched  on  the 
bank  of  the  wide  slough,  O'Dwyer  could  be  seen, 
not  far  distant,  sunning  himself  like  a  contented 
dog  at  his  master's  feet. 

Long  the  English  lad  lay  looking  over  the  in- 
finite reaches  of  tranquil  prairie,  domed  with  a 
cloudless  September  sky. 

This  island  in  Old  Man's  River  had  become 
the  little  world  in  which  he  lived.  To  the  right 
was  the  Fort — a  square  stockade  of  cottonwood 
logs,  enclosing  the  low,  mud-roofed  officers'  quar- 
ters, the  barracks,  the  quartermaster's  stores,  and 
the  stables.  To  the  left,  and  separated  from  the 
fort  by  a  gully,  straggled  the  village  of  Fort 
Macleod.  Conspicuous,  with  its  new  board  front, 
loomed  the  trading  post  of  Robert  Burroughs. 
These  beginnings  of  civilization  seemed  out  of 
place  in  the  splendid,  supreme  calm  of  nature. 


UNDER  THE  UNION  JACK 49 

Against  the  space  and  stillness  it  appeared  crude 
and  impertinent. 

Across  the  river  he  saw  the  Indian  lodges,  and 
heard  the  distant  hallo  from  rollicking  comrades, 
swimming  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  island.  The 
troopers,  the  traders  and  the  'breeds  were  as  de- 
pendent upon  one  another  as  if  they  were  a  colony 
upon  an  island  in  mid-ocean.  He  did  not  care  to 
be  with  these  men,  but  he  desired  comradeship. 
How  could  he  overcome  his  natural  reserve,  make 
friends,  yet  not  sacrifice  his  individuality  and  fam- 
ily traditions?  He  recalled  his  father's  haughty: 
"Associate  with  your  own  kind,  or  walk  the  path 
alone."  But  he  was  too  young  to  find  joy  in 
aloofness.  The  facility  of  speech,  the  adaptive 
moulding  to  another's  mood  was  not  in  him ! 

"I'll  have  to  be  myself,"  he  concluded.  "I 
never  cared  before  for  men's  good-will;  but  Ar- 
thur Latimer's  camaraderie  has  made  me  see 
things  differently." 

O'Dwyer  slept  peacefully  in  the  late  afternoon, 
and  Danvers  envied  him  the  contentment  of  his 
simple  nature.  He  drew  a  package  of  letters 
from  his  red  tunic  and  fingered  them  idly  as  he 
read  the  addresses.  He  selected  the  last  from 
Arthur  Latimer  and  read  again  the  already  famil- 
iar lines: 

/  am  coming  to  the  Whoop  Up  Country 

with  Scar  Faced  Charlie.     He  leaves  again 


50  A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

for  Fort  Macleod  in  about  a  week.  The  doc- 
tor says  that  office  work  is  bad  for  me  and 
that  I  ought  to  get  out  in  the  open  for  a 
year  or  two.  Really  I  am  curious  to  see 
you  in  your  giddy  uniform,  and  shall  enjoy 
a  visit,  though  if  I  could  get  work  I  might 
stay  permanently. 

How  is  Burroughs  progressing?  Is  he 
selling  beads  and  tea  to  the  Indians  at  a 
thousand  per  cent,  profit,  or  selling  them 
whisky  on  the  Q.  T.  at  fifty  thousand  per 
cent,  profit?  How  are  you  and  he  hitting  it 
of?  ' 

I  saw  Miss  Thornhill  last  week,  but,  be- 
tween you  and  me,  poor  devils  of  lawyers  are 
not  what  my  lady  wants. 

As  Danvers  folded  the  letter  and  replaced  it, 
he  felt  a  thrill  of  gladness  at  the  thought  of  the 
meeting.  There  would  be  some  one  to  share  his 
joy  in  the  sunsets  and  the  prairie  distances. 

Then  the  future  swept  toward  him;  he  won- 
dered if  this  companionship  with  his  friend  would 
be  all  that  he  should  ever  know.  The  intangible, 
divine  understanding  that  others  knew — the  possi- 
bility of  an  appreciation  that  would  be  sweet,  came 
vaguely  into  his  awakening  heart.  He  took  a 
newspaper  clipping  from  his  notebook  and  read: 

There  is  an  interesting  old  Chinese  legend 


UNDER  THE  UNION  JACK 5£ 

which  relates  how  an  angel  sits  with  a  long 
pole  which  he  dips  into  the  Sea  of  Love  and 
lifts  a  drop  of  shining  water.  With  an  ex- 
pert motion  he  turns  one-half  of  this  drop  to 
the  right,  the  other  half  to  the  leftt  where 
each  is  immediately  transformed  into  a  soul, 
a  male  and  a  female;  and  these  souls  go  seek- 
ing each  other  forever. 

The  angel  is  so  constantly  occupied  that 
he  keeps  no  track  of  the  souls  that  he  sepa- 
rates, and  they  must  depend  on  their  own 
intuition  to  recognize  each  other. 
The  golden  haze  of  the  setting  sun  was  not 
more  glorious  than  the  dreams  that  came  of  a 
loved  one  ever  near,  of  a  son  to  perpetuate  his 
name;  but  the  trumpet's  brazen  call  sounding  re- 
treat, and  its  echoing  reverberations,  made  Dan- 
vers  spring  to  his  feet,   romance   and  sentiment 
laid  aside.    The  present  satisfied.    Soldiering  was 
good. 

O'Dwyer  sat  up  rubbing  his  eyes,  with  an  ex- 
clamation of  surprise  at  the  late  hour. 

As  they  ran  through  the  big,  open  gate  with 
its  guard-room  and  sentry,  they  saw  Burroughs 
moving  toward  the  lodges  near  the  timber  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  island,  while  Toe  String 
Joe,  leaving  his  crony,  came  to  the  fort. 

"Sweet  Oil  Bob's  a  favorite  in  the  lodges  all 
roight,"  remarked  O'Dwyer.  "There'll  be  trou- 


52 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

ble  if  he  don't  let  Scar  Faced  Charlie's  squaw 
alone." 

"Pine  Coulee?"  questioned  Danvers. 

"The  same!"  said  O'Dwyer,  and  with  a  salute 
prompted  by  affection  and  not  military  compulsion 
he  left  Danvers  at  the  barracks. 

The  arrival  of  Arthur  Latimer  with  Scar  Faced 
Charlie,  making  his  second  trip  since  Danvers 
came  to  Macleod,  unexpectedly  settled  most  of  the 
problems  baffling  the  silent  and  lonely  Danvers. 
Charlie's  freighting  outfit  pulled  into  Macleod 
when  the  troops  were  drilling,  and  Philip,  though 
attentive  to  the  commands  of  his  superior,  looked 
across  the  gully  and  watched  the  gate-framed  pic- 
ture of  the  arrival  of  supplies.  The  lurching 
wagons,  the  bulls,  the  men  and  dogs,  loomed 
large  as  their  slow  movements  brought  them  into 
the  one  street  of  Fort  Macleod.  Though  there 
were  two  outfits,  Danvers  instantly  recognized 
Scar  Faced  Charlie,  and  saw  Latimer  run  across 
the  dry  gully.  He  warmed  with  delight  as  the 
troops  swept  along  in  their  evolutions,  for  he 
knew  his  friend  was  watching,  and  he  smiled  a 
welcome  as  Arthur's  cap  rose  high  in  happy  salute. 

After  the  parade  Philip  joined  Latimer.  The 
clasp  of  their  hands  told  more  than  the  conven- 
tional greetings.  They  leaned  on  the  rail  fence 
of  the  reservation  and  Latimer  looked  round 
eagerly.  "I  like  it  up  here!"  he  cried. 


UNDER  THE  UNION  JACK 53 

"Better  than  Fort  Benton?"  questioned  Dan- 
vers  hopefully. 

"You  are  here,  Phil,"  came  the  quick  answer 
from  the  Southerner,  with  his  old,  appealing 
charm  of  voice  and  smile. 

Night  fell  as  they  surveyed  the  scene.  The 
freighters  had  built  camp-fires  and  the  flare 
lighted  the  scene  weirdly  as  they  walked  toward 
Burroughs'  trading-post.  Latimer  greeted  all  as 
comrades,  even  the  officers  in  mufti,  and  Dan- 
vers,  seeing  the  responsive  smiles,  realized  how 
a  sunny  nature  receives  what  it  sheds. 

"Whose  outfit  came  in  with  Charlie's?"  in- 
quired Danvers,  as  they  neared  the  store. 

"The  mule  teams?  Oh,  that  was  McDevitt — 
an  odd  character,  from  all  I  hear;  Charlie  gave 
me  his  version  on  the  way  up." 

Danvers  waited  for  the  narrator  to  continue. 

"He  is  what  they  call  a  missionary-trader — 
though  evidently  there  is  little  difference  in  the 
varieties  in  this  country.  He's  supposed,  how- 
ever, to  be  an  example  to  the  Indians,  and  to 
furnish  them  with  material  supplies,  as  well  as 
spiritual  food." 

As  they  entered  Burroughs'  store,  the  trader 
met  them  cordially. 

"Glad  to  see  yeh,  Latimer,"  he  said,  grasping 
the  outstretched  hands.  "I  'spose  yeh've  seen 
that  pretty  Miss  Thornhill  every  day  since  we 


54 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

left  Fort  Benton,"  he  went  on.  "That's  a  girl 
foryeh!" 

Danvers  felt  his  face  change.  He  had  not 
yet  ventured  to  broach  Miss  Thornhill's  name. 
This  loud  mention  of  her  in  the  rough  crowd 
was  unbearable. 

Latimer  made  a  vague  reply.  He  sympathized 
with  Danvers'  involuntary  stiffening. 

"Well,  glad  to  see  yen!"  repeated  Burroughs, 
after  more  questions  and  answers.  "Make  yer- 
self  to  home.  Guess  yer  glad  to  see  yer  friend," 
he  said,  turning  to  Danvers.  "Yeh  ain't  seemed 
to  take  up  with  any  of  us  fellers,"  and  he  passed 
on  to  other  arrivals. 

It  was  not  long  before  McDevitt  entered, 
having  come,  evidently,  to  provoke  a  quarrel 
with  Burroughs.  While  argument  waxed  hot 
between  the  rival  traders  over  the  respective 
shipping  points  for  furs  and  the  tariff  on  buf- 
falo robes,  Danvers  and  Latimer  looked  around 
the  long  building  lined  with  cotton  sheeting  not 
yet  stained  or  grimed.  Blankets,  beads,  bright 
cloth,  guns,  bright  ribbons,  scalping-knives,  shot, 
powder  and  flints  (the  Indians  had  not  seen 
many  matches),  stood  out  against  the  light  back- 
ground. The  bizarre  effect  was  heightened  by 
the  garb  of  the  men.  Suits  of  buckskin,  gay 
sashes,  blankets  and  buffalo  robes  decked 
traders,  scouts  or  Indians,  as  the  case  might  be, 


UNDER  THE  UNION  JACK 55 

while  the  trooper  costume — red  tunics,  tiny  for- 
age caps,  and  blue  trousers  with  yellow  stripes — 
accentuated  the  riot  of  color.  A  few  bales  of 
furs,  of  little  value,  were  on  the  high  counters. 
In  the  warehouse  in  the  rear,  however,  hanging 
from  unhewn  beams  or  piled  in  heaps,  were  buf- 
falo robes  and  skins  of  all  the  fur-bearing  ani- 
mals, awaiting  shipment  to  Fort  Benton. 

The  babel  of  tongues  grew  louder.  Bur- 
roughs' quick  temper  suffered  from  McDevitt's 
repeated  assertion  that  Americans  were  ruining 
the  fur  trade  by  paying  the  Indians  more  than 
the  Canadian  traders. 

"I'm  losing  money  right  along,"  McDevitt 
affirmed. 

"Th'  hell  yeh  are  I"  sneered  Burroughs.  "Yeh 
preach  an'  then  rob;  rob  an'  preach.  /  pay  a  fair 
price  an'  don't  invite  the  Injuns  to  git  religion 
in  the  same  breath  that  I  offer  'em  a  drink  o' 
smuggled  whiskey." 

"You !  You — talking !  You  sell  more  whis- 
key than  any  other  trader  in  the  Whoop  Up 
Country,  right  here  under  the  noses  of  the 
Police!" 

"Prove  it!"  taunted  Burroughs  provokingly. 
"'F  the  Police  ever  suspect  me  an'  make  a  search, 
they'll  not  fin'  me  holdin'  a  prayer-meetin', 
same's  they  did  you  not  so  very  long  ago.  Le'me 


56 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

see — how  much  was  yer  fine,  anyway?"  with  a 
laugh. 

"Is  that  so?  Think  yeh're  smart,  don'  yeh?" 
snarled  McDevitt,  furious.  "Look  here,  Bob 
Burroughs,  come  out  an'  we'll  settle  this  right 
here  an'  now!  No?  Well,  let  me  tell  yeh  this! 
Yeh'll  be  sorry  yeh  said  that.  Bygones  is  by- 
gones, an'  I  don't  want  that  fine  throwed  up  in 
my  face  again!" 

"Did  yeh  say  just  the  exact  amount  of  the 
fine?"  repeated  Burroughs,  disdaining  to  fight 
either  in  or  out  of  his  trading-post. 

McDevitt's  voice  shook  with  vehemence  as  he 
strode  from  the  crowded  room. 

"I'll  have  something  to  throw  up  to  you,  Bob 
Burroughs,  some  o'  these  days.  I'm  like  a  Injun, 
I  furgive  'n  furgit,  but  I'm  campin'  on  yer  trail ! 
Yeh  won't  be  so  smilin'  then — le'me  tell  yeh!" 

"An'  the  fine?"  once  more  insisted  Bur- 
roughs, as  McDevitt  vanished,  amid  a  roar  of 
laughter  at  the  American's  persistence. 

The  moon  was  rising  when  Danvers  wended 
his  way  to  the  barracks  an  hour  later,  Arthur 
walking  to  the  reservation  fence  with  him. 

"I  wish  we  could  prove  where  the  Indians  and 
'breeds  get  their  whiskey,"  said  Danvers. 

"Haven't  you  any  idea?" 

"Suspicion  is  not  certainty,"  dryly. 

"It's  a  queer  world,"  thought  Latimer  aloud. 


UNDER  THE  UNION  JACK 57 

"But  we're  'pioneers  of  a  glorious  future,' ' 
quoted  Danvers,  lightly.     "It  will  all  come  out 
right."     He  longed  to  hear  of  Eva  Thornhill, 
hesitated,  then  inquired:     "Was  Miss  Thornhill 
at  Fort  Benton  when  you  left?" 

"Yes.  She  asked  several  times  about  you." 
Danvers  took  off  his  cap.  So  she  remembered 
him.  "But  she  asked  for  Bob,  too."  The  cap 
went  on.  "We'll  all  make  a  try  for  her  heart, 
old  man,"  laughed  Latimer.  "By  the  way,"  he 
added,  as  they  paused  before  separating  for  the 
night,  "that  wasn't  a  bad  looking  squaw  I  saw 
just  as  we  left  Bob's.  What  is  her  name?" 

"The  one  to  our  right,  as  we  struck  the  trail? 
That  was  Pine  Coulee.  She's  Scar  Faced  Char- 
lie's squaw,  but  Burroughs  is  trying  to  get  her 
away  from  him.  However,  one  of  her  own  tribe, 
Me-Casto,  or  Red  Crow,  will  steal  her  some  of 
these  days.  He  hates  the  white  men  because  they 
take  the  likely  squaws." 

"Whew!"  whistled  the  visitor. 


A'  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


A  DAY  or  two  after  Christmas,  O'Dwyer,  a 
lonely  sentinel  on  his  midnight  beat,  strode 
with  measured  step,  alert,  on  duty.  Out- 
side the  town,  Robert  Burroughs  skulked  toward 
the  lodge,  while  Me-Casto  followed  covertly. 

An  hour  afterward  O'Dwyer  heard  moccas- 
ined  feet  approaching  the  stockade  gate.  Chal- 
lenging quickly,  his  "Halt,  who  goes  there?"  was 
answered  by  Me-Casto.  As  that  Indian  had  done 
some  scouting  for  the  Police,  the  postern  gate 
was  unlocked,  after  some  delay,  and  Me-Casto 
admitted  to  the  Colonel's  presence. 

When  Me-Casto  left  the  fort,  Danvers,  lying 
deep  in  sleep,  with  others  of  his  troop,  felt  a 
heavy  hand  on  his  shoulder. 

"Don't    speak,"    whispered    the    orderly    ser- 


HATE 59 

geant,  who  roused  them.  "Get  up  and  dress  for 
special  duty.  Report  at  stables  at  once,  armed." 

The  men  knew  what  was  before  them.  They 
had  been  so  roused  before,  when  it  was  expedient 
to  have  some  party  leave  the  fort  with  secrecy, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  chill  water  of  the 
ford  splashed  them  as  they  rode  away  from  the 
sleeping  town  and  garrison. 

Almost  before  the  sound  of  carefully  led 
horses  had  died  away,  Toe  String  Joe  was  dress- 
ing, and  soon  was  making  his  way  through  a 
secret  opening  in  the  stockade  where  he  had 
sawed  off  a  log  near  the  ground  and  hung  it 
with  wooden  pins  to  each  adjoining  post  in  such 
a  manner  that  it  would  easily  swing. 

As  he  lay  on  his  cot  of  woven  willows,  he  had 
watched,  with  narrowed  eyelids,  his  comrades 
leave  the  troop  room.  Now  he  must  report  to 
his  chief.  The  fort  was  soon  behind  him.  Arriv- 
ing at  Burroughs'  store,  he  passed  to  the  rear  and 
tapped  on  the  small  pane  of  glass  doing  duty  as  a 
window.  He  tapped  again,  again;  then  turned, 
cursing,  to  find  Burroughs  at  his  elbow. 

"What's  up?"  Burroughs  interrupted  Joe's 
blasphemy. 

"A  party  went  out  from  the  fort." 

"M-m-m!  Who  was  at  the  fort  before  you 
turned  in?" 

"Nobody." 


60 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Who  was  ordered  out?" 

Joe  told  him.  "Danvers  was  one,"  he  con- 
cluded. 

"Always  that  black-haired  Englishman!  I  hate 
him!" 

"What  yeh  goin'  to  do?  Ain't  them  goods 
comin'  this  week?  Somebody's  blabbed.  Me- 
Casto's  been  watchin'  yeh  mighty  clost,  lately. 
Perhaps  it  was  him." 

"Perhaps,"  concurred  the  trader,  looking  at  the 
disloyal  trooper  thoughtfully.  "We  kin  only 
hope  fer  the  best.  Wild  Cat  Bill  is  bringin'  it 
in,  an'  Scar  Faced  Charlie  is  drivin'.  'F  they  git 
a  chance  to  cache  the  stuff  they  will.  Maybe," 
he  concluded  hopefully,  "the  detachment  won't 
run  across  'em,  an'  they'll  fool  the  Police,  with 
their  little  pill  boxes  stuck  on  three  hairs." 

Meantime  the  mounted  detail,  with  Me-Casto 
as  scout,  galloped  past  the  lodge  fires  of  the  out- 
lying Indians  and  pressed  their  way  through  a 
falling  sleet  with  not  a  sound  but  the  muffled  thud 
of  the  horses'  hoofs  and  the  moan  of  the  wind. 

The  stars  dimmed;  the  east  lightened.  In  the 
early  morning  the  troopers  came  to  a  small  trad- 
ing-post, where  they  saw  a  group  of  men  awaiting 
their  arrival. 

"I  thought  it  was  you,  Danvers,  the  minute  I 
piped  yeh  off!"  Wild  Cat  Bill  stepped  forward 
as  he  spoke,  and  shook  hands  with  the  young 


HATE 6^ 

trooper  as  cordially  as  if  they  were  old  friends. 
Bill  breathed  as  though  he  had  been  running,  but 
went  on  immediately: 

"We've  come  up  here  to  see  what  the  chances 
were  fer  wolfin'  this  winter.  Here's  Charlie,  yeh 
see.  What  yeh  out  fer?  Horse  thieves?" 

Philip  did  not  answer,  as  the  officer  in  charge, 
singularly  lacking  in  perspicacity,  took  it  upon 
himself. 

"We  are  looking  for  smugglers,"  he  frowned. 
"You  haven't  seen  any  loaded  outfits  headed  this 
way  from  Fort  Benton,  have  you?" 

"Nope !"  Bill  promptly  answered.  "We've  been 
here  two  days,  and  nobody  passed  here — has 
they,  Charlie?"  The  freighter  confirmed  Bill's 
assertion  and  the  troopers  were  then  ordered  to 
stable  their  horses  for  an  hour. 

"How  is  your  sister,  Charlie?"  Danvers  asked 
at  his  earliest  opportunity.  He  was  sorry  to  see 
the  freighter,  feeling  something  was  amiss. 

"She's  in  the  East,  at  boarding-school,"  an- 
swered Charlie.  "I  couldn't  do  by  her  as  I 
should,"  he  went  on.  "Fort  Benton's  no  place  to 
bring  up  Winnie." 

"Remember  me  to  her  when  you  write,"  said 
Danvers,  walking  his  horse  away  as  Charlie 
passed  inside  the  trading-post. 

"What  are  yeh  thinkin'?"  whispered  one  of  the 


62 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

detail  in  the  dark  of  the  stables  as  the  horses  were 
being  fed. 

"Not  much  of  anything,"  Danvers  whispered 
back. 

"Yes,  yeh  are.  Yeh  know  they's  cached  whiskey 
somewhere  around." 

Coming  from  the  stables,  Danvers  passed  the 
conspicuously  empty  wagons  belonging  to  the 
Americans.  He  noticed  that  the  pile  of  refuse 
near  by  was  not  covered  with  snow,  although  the 
stables  had  not  been  cleaned.  Walking  nearer, 
he  detected  a  strong  odor  of  whiskey  rising  from 
the  wagon  boxes.  He  remembered  the  sweat  on 
the  men's  foreheads.  Getting  a  stable  fork  he 
struck  sharply  into  the  compost.  Something 
clinked.  A  quick  throwing  of  the  litter  uncovered 
a  case,  such  as  was  commonly  used  to  convey 
liquor. 

As  it  was  his  duty,  Danvers  walked  to  the  cap- 
tain and  saluted. 

"I've  found  a  cache  of  whiskey,  sir,"  he  an- 
swered, respectfully. 

The  captain  investigated.  Then  he  opened  the 
door  of  the  shack  and  surprised  the  Americans 
eating  breakfast. 

When  placed  under  arrest,  they  seemed 
stunned,  submitting  without  demur. 

"I  bet  Danvers  found  that  cache!"  muttered 
Bill.  "He's  too  foxy  fer  me!" 


HATE 63 

On  the  return  trip  to  Fort  Macleod,  Me-Casto 
began  to  fear  that  the  men  would  attempt  to 
prove  that  the  whiskey  was  not  Burroughs'.  He 
knew  what  he  had  heard  in  the  lodges;  but  what 
would  his  word  be,  as  against  these  defiant  men? 
He  pondered  for  many  miles,  then  thought  of 
another  way  to  bring  disgrace  on  Burroughs.  He 
would  yet  have  Pine  Coulee,  himself!  Riding 
close  to  the  wagon  where  the  morose  Charlie  sat, 
Me-Casto  craftily  engaged  in  conversation. 

"Kitzi-nan-nappi-ekki?"  (your  whiskey?)  he 
asked.  The  Blackfeet  would  make  no  effort  to 
learn  English,  although  they  understood  a  little; 
but  most  white  men  had  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
Indian  dialects. 

"No,"  answered  Charlie. 

"Nee-a-poos?"     (Burroughs?) 

"No." 

"Whose?"  was  the  next  question  in  Black- 
foot. 

"I  don't  know." 

"You'll  get  six  months  in  the  guard-room  if 
they  get  you." 

"I  s'pose  so,"  was  the  reluctant  admission.  The 
prospect  was  not  pleasing. 

"Then  Burroughs  have  Pine  Coulee  all  time !" 

"What'd  you  mean?"  thundered  Charlie,  ef- 
fectually interested. 

"Burroughs  give  Pine  Coulee  a  new  dress — 


64 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

new  beads — new  blanket,"  was  the  candid  reply. 

The  teamster  was  stricken  dumb.  He  made 
no  comment  on  the  gossip,  but  when  it  came  his 
turn  to  be  examined  before  Colonel  Macleod,  he 
swore  that  Burroughs  was  the  owner  of  the 
seized  liquor  and  that  he  had  been  employed  to 
drive  these  men  North.  In  every  way  he  could, 
he  offset  the  perjured  testimony  of  Bill,  who  posed 
as  the  victim  of  circumstantial  evidence. 

The  commandant-magistrate  was  puzzled.  Me- 
Casto  had  testified  that  he  had  heard  Burroughs 
in  one  of  the  lodges,  arranging  for  the  caching  of 
expected  whiskey,  in  one  of  the  cut  banks  of  the 
river.  The  teamster  corroborated  the  Indian. 
Wild  Cat  Bill  and  Burroughs  swore  that  neither 
owned  the  confiscated  liquor.  Colonel  Macleod 
knew  nothing  of  Charlie  or  Bill;  but  he  consid- 
ered the  standing  of  Burroughs,  also  the  unrelia- 
bility of  most  Indians'  testimony,  and  finally  ac- 
quitted Burroughs  unconditionally,  while  declar- 
ing Bill  and  Charlie  guilty  of  smuggling,  and  he 
sentenced  them  accordingly.  Burroughs  promptly 
furnished  the  money  for  the  payment  of  Bill's 
fine,  and  Latimer,  believing  Charlie's  tale,  loaned 
him  money  to  escape  the  guard-room. 

Great  was  the  rejoicing  in  Burroughs'  post  that 
night.  Long  after  midnight  Bill  waited  for  a  mo- 
ment with  his  chief. 


HATE 65 

"I  done  the  best  I  could,  Bob,"  he  said  de- 
jectedly, when  they  were  at  last  alone.  "  'F  Phil 
Danvers  hadn't  been  along  I'd  'a'  made  it." 

"I'll  get  even  with  him,"  growled  Burroughs. 

"The  Police  mos'  caught  us  red-handed,"  ex- 
plained Bill.  "We  hadn't  more'n  got  the  pitch- 
forks back  in  the  stable  when  they  rode  up." 

"Say  no  more  about  it,  Bill,"  suggested  Bob. 
The  smuggler  looked  comforted. 

"Danvers  is  all  right,"  mused  Bill,  while  his 
friend  prepared  a  drink. 

"Is  that  so?"  queried  Bob  with  unpleasant  em- 
phasis. 

"You're  as  cocky  as  a  rooster,"  expostulated 
the  other.  "Phil  Danvers  has  swore  to  do  his 
duty — an'  he  does  it.  The  most  of  us  is  on  the 
make  up  here,  an'  the  Police've  got  their  traitors, 
as  you  know.  Danvers  is  sort  of  unusual,  that's 
all." 

"He  ain't  my  style!"  was  the  retort. 

"No,"  was  the  dry  comment,  "I  shouldn't  pre- 
sume he  was."  But  the  sarcasm  was  lost  on  his 
hearer. 

"What  was  eatin'  Scar  Faced  Charlie,  any- 
way?" 

"He's  squiffy."  Bill  had  heard  the  conversa- 
tion between  Me-Casto  and  Charlie  on  the  trail, 
but  was  in  no  mind  to  retail  it. 


66 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"I'm  goin'  out,"  said  Burroughs,  presently,  and 
at  this  broad  hint  Bill  rose. 

"I'm  in  yer  debt,"  he  began  awkwardly. 

"That's  all  right."  The  trader  knew  and  Bill 
knew  that  the  paid  fine  was  another  cord  to  bind 
him.  "An'  now  we'll  make  a  pile  o'  money  'f 
we're  careful.  Joe's  inside  the  fort  an'  you  an' 
me  are  outside,  an'  the  Injuns  are  always  dry — 
see?  This  deal's  goin'  to  be  pretty  hard  on  me, 
what  with  the  government  confiscatin'  all  them 
nine  hundred  gallons  of  whiskey;  but  we've  got 
more  comin',  an'  we'll  have  to  mix  it  a  little 
thinner,  that's  all." 

Burroughs  went  toward  the  Indian  lodges  and 
soon  discovered  Charlie  also  sneaking  thither. 

No  superfluous  words  were  spoken.  "What'd 
yeh  do  it  fer?"  The  angry  trader  whirled,  the 
teamster  facing  him. 

"You  let  Pine  Coulee  alone!"  mumbled  Char- 
lie, far  gone  in  liquor. 

"That's  it,  eh?"  commented  the  enlightened 
Burroughs,  turning  away  contemptuously.  "Like 
hell  I  will!" 

Not  long  after  Arthur  Latimer  answered  a  re- 
cent letter  from  the  doctor  in  Fort  Benton.  He 
gave  a  vivid  account  of  recent  events  and  of  a 
dinner  that  had  been  given  at  the  military  post  on 
Christmas  day  to  which  he  had  been  invited. 
"After  the  dinner"  he  continued,  "the 


HATE 67 

boys  sang  for  an  hour  or  more.  They  have 
good  voices,  and  it  was  worth  a  long  journey 
to  hear  them  sing  'The  Wearing  of  the 
Green.' 

"Colonel  Macleod  seemed  to  enjoy  the 
music  immensely,  and  (I  don't  see  how  he 
happened  to  think  of  it]  he  called  Dangers 
up  and  asked  him  if  he  knew  anything  from 
II  Trovatore.'  Phil  saluted  and  said  that 
he  had  heard  it  in  London.  Thereupon  the 
colonel  asked  him  if  he  could  sing  any  of 
the  airs.  Phil  hesitated,  but  the  command- 
ing officer's  request  is  tantamount  to  a  com- 
mand, and  after  a  moment  he  began  the 
'Miserere.'  The  men  were  still  as  death. 
Probably  they  had  never  heard  it  before. 
You,  of  course,  remember  that  superb  tenor 
solo — the  haunting  misery,  the  despair!  And 
what  do  you  think?  When  he  got  to  the 
duet  I  took  Leonora's  part.  Phil  gave  a 
little  start,  but  kept  on  singing,  and  we  car- 
ried the  duet  through.  My!  but  the  men 
nearly  tore  us  to  shreds.  O'Dwyer  fairly 
lifted  Phil  of  his  feet,  at  this  triumph  of  his 
hero,  for  he  has  taken  a  great  liking  to  our 
silent  Englishman.  The  colonel  thanked  us 
with  delightful  appreciation  and  soon  after 
went  out — more  quiet  than  ever.  I  reckon 
he  was  homesick.  We  all  were — a  bit. 


68 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Sweethearts  and  wives  seemed  very  far  away 
that  night. 

"You  speak  of  Scar  Faced  Charlie's 
avowed  intention  of  abandoning  his  freight- 
ing. He'll  probably  never  come  up  here 
again.  He  recently  sent  me  some  cash  I'd 
loaned  him,  and  he  intimated  as  much.  Be- 
fore he  left  here  he  returned  his  squaw,  Pine 
Coulee,  to  her  father;  then  Burroughs  bought 
her  for  a  bunch  of  ponies. 

"Me-Casto  couldn't  compete — poor  devil. 
He,  like  all  Indians,  had  gambled  away  his 
small  stock  of  ponies  early  in  the  fall — as 
Burroughs  well  knew." 

"Come  on,  Arthur,"  called  Danvers,  cheerily, 
as  he  stuck  his  head  into  the  room.  "There's  a 
dance  on  at  Bob's  trading-post." 

"All  right."  Latimer  hurriedly  put  away  his 
writing  and  soon  they  ran  along  the  trail  to  the 
rendezvous. 

"Look,  there  is  Me-Casto!"  exclaimed  Philip. 

"Where?" 

"Skulking  in  the  shadows  back  of  Bob's  place." 

"Bob  better  look  out,"  said  Arthur,  as  they 
pushed  open  the  store  door.  "Me-Casto  is  not 
here  for  any  good." 

The  candle-lighted  room  was  well  filled  with 
traders,  troopers,  trappers  and  squaws.  No  buck 


HATE 69 

ever  participated  in  a  white  man's  dance,  but 
several  stood  by  the  door  and  looked  on.  Every 
one  was  in  high  spirits,  and  when  the  fiddler,  a 
French  'breed,  struck  up,  stamping  his  moccasined 
feet  to  keep  time,  each  man  secured  a  squaw  and 
took  his  place.  A  brazen-lunged  'breed  shouted, 
"Alleman'  lef !  Swing  yer  partners!"  and  the 
couples  swung  giddily  around. 

Danvers  joined  in  with  right  good-will.  Oc- 
casionally he  danced;  more  often  he  sat  on  the 
long  trade  counter  and  kept  time  to  the  emphatic 
music  by  beating  his  spurs  heavily  against  the 
boards  behind  his  feet.  Latimer  and  O'Dwyer 
danced  joyously;  but  Burroughs,  apparently  un- 
easy, as  the  evening  wore  on,  kept  a  watchful  eye 
on  the  outer  door.  Philip  noticed,  too,  that  Pine 
Coulee  was  less  phlegmatic  than  usual,  although 
she  danced  faithfully  at  the  command  of  her  lord 
and  master. 

Presently  Me-Casto  came  in  and  stood  by  the 
door.  With  blanket  muffling  the  lower  part  of 
his  face,  he  looked  piercingly  at  Pine  Coulee — at 
Robert  Burroughs.  The  trader  caught  Me- 
Casto's  eye,  and,  ostentatiously  clasping  Pine 
Coulee's  hand  as  he  swung  her  in  the  dance,  he 
smiled  full  in  the  Blackfoot's  face,  purposely 
flaunting  his  ownership  of  the  squaw.  Me-Casto 
turned  and  left  the  room. 

"  'On  wid  the  dance,  let  j'y  be  unconfined!'  " 


TO A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

yelled  O'Dwyer,  as  he  combined  an  Irish  jig  and 
a  Red  River  reel.  He  had  not  noticed  Me-Casto, 
but  Latimer  and  Danvers  exchanged  glances. 
Just  then  Pine  Coulee  looked  wistfully  toward 
the  opening  door.  Burroughs,  ever  watchful, 
caught  a  glimpse  of  Me-Casto  as  his  lips  gave  an 
almost  imperceptible  signal  to  Pine  Coulee.  The 
trader's  anger  was  quick;  his  discretion  slight. 
He  struck  the  girl  flat  on  the  cheek. 

"Take  that!"  he  said  savagely.  "I'll  teach  yeh 
to  hanker  after  that  lousy  buck!" 

The  words  and  the  blow  were  simultaneous. 
So  was  the  leap  of  the  indignant  Danvers. 

"You  coward!"  he  cried,  "to  strike  a  woman!" 
He  took  the  trader  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  and 
shook  him  soundly. 

Before  Burroughs  could  close  with  the  trooper 
there  came  three  rifle  shots.  Each  time  a  singing 
bullet  whizzed  by  a  dodging  form.  Only  one  of 
the  shots  took  effect.  Pine  Coulee  sank  to  the 
floor,  blood  flowing  from  her  bosom. 

Screams,  oaths  and  shouts  mingled  as  Danvers 
raised  the  squaw.  Latimer  assisted  him  in  placing 
her  on  a  counter,  while  Burroughs,  certain  of  the 
would-be  murderer,  ran  outside  for  the  assailant, 
the  crowd  following.  A  head  pushed  past  the 
half-opened  side  door. 

"Didn't  I  kill  Burroughs?"  The  question  was 
in  Blackfoot. 


HATE 7^ 

"You  shot  Pine  Coulee!"  replied  Danvers, 
sternly.  In  an  instant  renewed  shouting  indicated 
that  the  men  had  tracked  the  Indian.  A  moment 
later  the  sound  of  fleeing  hoofs  told  that  Me- 
Casto  had  made  a  get-away.  The  trot  of  other 
horses  followed,  but  soon  the  eternal  silence  of 
the  prairie  reigned  alone. 

By  the  time  Burroughs  returned  to  the  store 
Pine  Coulee  had  revived. 

As  the  trader  was  dragging  the  squaw  to  his 
near-by  house,  he  paused  on  the  threshold. 

"Phil  Danvers,"  he  said,  moistening  his  dry 
lips  as  his  rage  increased,  "as  true  as  they's  a 
God  above  I'll  pay  yeh  back  for  interferin'  to- 
night. I've  hated  yeh  from  the  first  time  I  set 
eyes  on  yeh!  'F  I  live  I'll  make  yeh  feel  what 
hate'll  do !  Yeh're  too  good  fer  the  Whoop  Up 
Country,  an'  I've  got  a  long  score  to  settle  with 
yeh !  'F  ever  white  women  come  to  this  country 
an'  yeh  git  a  sweetheart  I'll  do  my  best  to  separate 
yeh!  'F  yeh've  got  a  sister  I'll  have  her!  I'll — 
I'll— God!  But  I  hate  yeh!" 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


terlff. 

Hot"  Blood  oS  "Yo-ttttv*—3 

THE  spring  warmed  into  summer,  the  sum- 
mer melted  into  autumn.  Autumn,  in 
turn,  chilled  into  the  white  world  of  win- 
ter. All  thoughts  of  the  little  girl  on  the  Far 
West  had  slipped  from  the  mind  of  Danvers,  and 
even  the  memory  of  Miss  Thornhill  became  faint 
— obliterated  by  the  strenuous  life  of  the  service. 
Promotion  came  in  his  third  year  of  service  as  a 
reward  for  intelligence  and  efficiency.  Danvers 
was  offered  and  accepted  a  commission.  He  felt 
that  life  was  good.  Fears  and  homesickness  had 
long  since  disappeared;  the  longings  for  other 
and  more  congenial,  refined  and  feminine  asso- 
ciates came  but  seldom;  still,  the  desire  for  the 
understanding  of  one  alone,  for  a  loved  wife  and 
a  son  to  bear  his  name  was  not  dead — it  was  sim- 
ply dormant  in  that  womanless  land. 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 73 

"The  doctor  will  be  here  next  week,"  an- 
nounced Arthur  Latimer,  who  had  been  book- 
keeper in  one  of  the  trading-posts  ever  since  he 
had  come  to  Macleod,  soon  after  Danvers  was 
made  a  second  lieutenant.  "Colonel  Macleod,  I 
hear,  has  invited  quite  a  party  to  visit  him  from 
Fort  Benton." 

"Yes.  I  heard  from  the  doctor,  too."  Philip 
smiled  at  thought  of  his  friend's  surprise  at  his 
new  rank. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  visitors  arrived,  and, 
greatly  to  Danvers'  surprise,  Miss  Thornhill,  ac- 
companied by  her  father,  the  major,  was  among 
them. 

The  first  white  woman  that  he  had  seen  for 
three  years !  He  had  never  before  realized  how 
dainty  a  lady  is  in  comparison  with  her  sisters  of 
the  lodges.  They  may  be  kin  in  the  world  rela- 
tionship, but,  oh!  the  difference  one  from  the 
other.  The  squaws,  standing  stolidly  by,  were  in- 
tolerable. As  Eva  walked  consciously  past  with 
Colonel  Macleod,  attended  by  the  staff  officers, 
she  gave  no  sign  of  recognition  other  than  a 
heightened  color  and  lowered  eye-lashes;  but 
Philip  felt  that  she  recognized  him.  Before  the 
girl  reached  the  barracks  Mr.  Burroughs  entered 
the  stockade.  With  the  assurance  of  a  favored 
acquaintance,  he  advanced  and  pressed  the  hand 
of  Miss  Thornhill. 


74 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Danvers  turned  away.  So  new  a  mood  as- 
sailed him  that  he  went  outside  the  stockade  and 
prowled  along  the  outer  wall,  not  waiting  to  do 
more  than  greet  the  doctor.  How  he  longed  for 
a  touch  of  that  dainty  hand,  for  a  word  from 
Eva — from  any  young  woman  of  his  own  race! 
All  the  manhood,  all  the  heart-hunger  of  the  iso- 
lated years,  surged  within  him.  He  smiled  rather 
piteously.  He  had  not  realized  that  he  was 
starving  for  the  sight  of  fair  skin,  sunny  hair 
and  slender  hands ;  for  a  bonny  white  face — white 
— white  !  That  was  it !  A  white  face,  a  womanly 
face!  He  hardly  noticed  the  muttered  "How"  of 
Pine  Coulee  as  she  passed,  her  young  babe  slung 
over  her  back.  But  he  returned  her  salutation, 
and  after  they  passed  each  other  he  recalled  a 
look  on  her  usually  expressionless  face  that  he  had 
never  seen  there  before. 

"Here,  Phil!  Wait  for  us!"  Latimer  was 
calling,  and  Danvers  soon  forgot  his  perturbation 
in  the  pleasure  of  the  doctor's  presence  and  con- 
gratulations, as  he  came  up  with  Arthur. 

"Got  so  you  can  talk,  eh?"  asked  the  doctor, 
noting  how  the  young  men  vied  in  their  efforts  to 
entertain  him.  "I  told  the  colonel  that  I  was 
coming  up  here  to  see  you,  fully  as  much  as  him 
— good  friends  as  we  are.  You  are  good  to  look 
at,  both  of  you." 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 75 

"Arthur  always  could  talk,"  smiled  Danvers, 
"and  I  can — with  my  friends." 

"How  is  Burroughs  getting  along?"  asked  the 
doctor,  as  the  trader  passed  them,  too  absorbed, 
apparently,  in  the  recollection  of  his  meeting  with 
Miss  Thornhill  to  note  either  them  or  Pine 
Coulee,  who  followed  him. 

"Remarkably  well,  from  a  financial  standpoint. 
His  living  with  a  squaw  makes  him  popular  with 
the  Indians,  and  the  colonel  swears  by  him — 
thinks  he's  perfect." 

"And  the  trade  in  whiskey?" 

Latimer  shrugged  his  shoulders  expressively. 

"That's  Bob's  squaw,"  said  Arthur,  after  an 
awkward  pause.  "She's  as  proud  as  a  peacock 
of  that  papoose.  She  rather  lords  it  over  her 
former  associates  of  the  lodges." 

The  doctor  whistled.  He  knew  Pine  Coulee's 
story,  but  had  not  heard  of  the  child.  "Bob  will 
want  to  marry  some  day,"  was  his  sole  comment. 
"Has  Me-Casto  ever  been  caught?" 

"No.  When  he  does  turn  up,  Robert  Bur- 
roughs may  look  out  for  trouble." 

"Why  did  Toe  String  Joe  leave  the  Force?" 
asked  the  doctor  presently.  "He  has  been  in  Fort 
Benton  for  some  little  time." 

"Drummed  out  of  the  service.  But  he  wouldn't 
tell  who  supplied  him  with  the  whiskey.  What  is 
he  doing  now?" 


y6 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Joe  is  mining.  He  declares  he  will  be  a 
millionaire." 

"He'll  be  a  millionaire  when  Danvers  turns 
American  and  runs  for  office,"  scoffed  Latimer, 
remembering  Joe's  shiftless  disposition  and  mak- 
ing the  most  improbable  comparison  that  he  could 
think  of. 

"He  will  never  be  one,  then,"  said  Philip, 
quietly.  "I  cannot  think  of  anything  that  would 
make  me  break  my  allegiance  to  England.  I  am 
going  to  stay  in  the  service — I  like  it!  And  as 
for  American  politics !  .  .  .  You  know  what  I 
think  of  them."  He  smiled  affectionately  to  atone 
for  the  words. 

The  glimpses  that  the  troopers  and  younger 
officers  caught  of  Eva  Thornhill  in  the  following 
week  were  few.  Nevertheless  a  gust  of  love- 
madness  swept  through  the  ranks,  from  the  offi- 
cer commanding  to  the  newest  recruit.  Nor  were 
the  townsmen  behind  in  their  attempts  to  win  a 
part  of  the  girl's  time  and  thoughts — if  not  her- 
self. Burroughs  easily  led  in  favor,  and  Lieuten- 
ant Danvers  effaced  himself.  So  rigidly  did  he  do 
so  that  it  was  not  long  before  Miss  Thornhill 
found  the  flavor  of  rue  in  her  Canadian  visit. 
The  smart  lieutenant  had  made  no  advances,  had 
sought  no  introduction.  Eva  demanded  the 
homage  of  all,  accustomed  as  she  was  to  the  fron- 
tier life  where  women  were  too  rare  to  be  neg- 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 77 

lected.  No  chaperon  was  thought  of  in  the  free- 
dom of  the  frontier,  and,  indeed,  none  was  needed 
among  the  innately  chivalrous  Westerners.  This 
little  world  of  Macleod  revolved  around  her — 
all  but  the  silent,  unobtrusive  Danvers,  whose  ac- 
quaintance seemed  the  more  desirable  in  direct 
ratio  to  his  aloofness.  Eva  resolved  to  win  him, 
and  Arthur  Latimer  was  artfully  sounded  for  the 
cause  of  his  friend's  indifference.  The  Southerner, 
already  playing  at  love  with  the  fair-haired  belle, 
and  at  no  pains  to  conceal  it,  readily  undertook 
to  find  out. 

"Why  don't  you  meet  Miss  Thornhill?"  he 
asked. 

"I  am  very  busy  these  days,"  interrupted  the 
lieutenant,  giving  his  excuse  hastily.  Not  even 
to  his  friend  could  he  disclose  how  he  was  drawn 
toward  the  only  white  representative  of  her  sex 
at  Macleod. 

"But  she  wants  to  know  you.  She  wants  to 
meet  you,"  insisted  the  loyal  Arthur,  who  had 
sung  Danvers'  praises  industriously  and  un- 
selfishly. 

"Why,  Arthur!"  Philip  cried,  gaily,  to  cover 
the  tremor  in  his  voice  that  would  not  be  subdued 
when  he  learned  that  this  haughty  maid  had 
thought  of  him.  "If  you  are  as  much  in  love  with 
Miss  Thornhill  as  you  pretend  to  be,  you  want 
to  speak  for  yourself.  But  she  evidently  prefers 


78 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Bob  Burroughs,  and  I,  for  one,  think  I'll  keep 
out  of  temptation."  He  slapped  the  ardent 
Southerner  affectionately  on  the  back.  "No 
chance  for  either  of  us,  old  man!  Don't  talk  of 
me  to  her!  She  will  think  us  asses — amiable 
idiots!" 

"I  know  there's  no  chance  for  me,"  replied 
Latimer,  aggrieved.  "What  have  I  to  offer  a 
wife — I'm  poor  as  the  proverbial  church  mouse." 

"Anyway,  leave  me  out  of  your  conversations." 

"I'll  see  that  you  do  not  meet  her!"  returned 
the  Missourian,  in  mock  alarm.  Then  they 
laughed  light-heartedly.  "I  know  whom  she'd 
choose — if  she  had  the  opportunity.  Burroughs 
wouldn't  stand  a  show,  nor  I  either." 

"There  she  is  now."  Danvers  nodded  toward 
the  ford,  where  he  had  seen,  for  several  moments, 
the  trader  and  Eva  riding  easily. 

"Bob's  got  his  nerve !  How  about  Pine  Coulee 
and  the  child?"  exploded  Latimer. 

"S-sh!"  warned  Philip,  seeing  a  movement  of 
the  bullberry  bushes  near  them. 

As  the  young  men  looked  toward  the  riders, 
whose  mounts  were  close  together  and  walking 
slowly,  a  dark  face,  with  passionate  eyes  gleam- 
ing, pushed  cautiously  out  from  the  sheltering 
branches,  and  Pine  Coulee  also  watched  the  un- 
conscious maid  and  the  trader. 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 79 

When  Colonel  Macleod,  wishing  to  impress  his 
American  visitors,  ordered  the  troops  under  his 
command  to  go  through  their  cavalry  exercises, 
Miss  Thornhill  sat  on  a  glossy  mare  beside  him, 
while  troopers  passed  at  a  walk  or  trot,  and  won- 
dered why  she  had  found  it  so  difficult  to  meet 
Lieutenant  Danvers.  As  the  lines  of  superb  and 
faultlessly  groomed  men  and  horses  swept  past 
on  the  last  mad  gallop  she  forgot  her  brooding 
and  clapped  her  hands  enthusiastically. 

"Oh,  Colonel  Macleod!  That  was  splendid! 
Make  them  go  on,  and  on!"  she  cried. 

"Why,  of  course,  if  you  wish,"  assented  the 
gallant  Macleod,  forgetting  that  the  rise  of 
ground  directly  in  front  of  him  had  the  river  on 
its  farther  slope. 

"Phat's  the  colonel  thinkin'  of?"  growled 
O'Dwyer,  as  no  halt  sounded. 

"He's  not  thinkin'  at  all!"  responded  the  man 
next  in  alignment,  sourly.  "A  man  can't  think 
when  a  slip  of  a  girl's  near  by." 

"He's  forgot  the  river!"  groaned  the  fleshy 
Irishman,  dreading  the  certain  plunge. 

Into  the  stream  they  dashed,  many  of  the  men 
over  their  heads,  for  there  was  no  turning  back. 

As  the  horses  balked,  Lieutenant  Danvers'  stal- 
lion threshed  viciously,  hitting  O'Dwyer,  and  then 
ceased  to  swim. 

O'Dwyer  groaned,  "Me  a-r-rm!" 


8o A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

It  was  over  in  an  instant.  Those  on  shore  as- 
sisted Danvers  and  the  Irishman  to  land. 
O'Dwyer  was  left  in  Philip's  care,  while  the  rest 
of  the  men  rode  back,  as  the  review  must  not  be 
interrupted. 

Eva  saw  the  break  in  the  ranks. 

"Lieutenant  Danvers  has  dropped  out,"  she  ex- 
claimed, and  straightway  bit  her  lip. 

"Philip?"  hastily  asked  the  Fort  Benton  doc- 
tor, on  a  horse  near  by.  "Then  there  has  been 
an  accident!" 

The  sergeant-major  rode  up  to  report,  but  the 
impulsive  Eva  did  not  wait  for  details.  She 
touched  her  mare  and  was  after  the  doctor. 

"I'm  so  sorry!"  cried  the  girl,  as  she  met  Dan- 
vers and  O'Dwyer  returning.  "It's  all  my  fault 
that  you  are  wet — and  hurt !  Which  one  is  hurt?" 
She  turned  provocative  eyes  to  the  dripping  lieu- 
tenant. 

"O'Dwyer  has  a  sprained  elbow,"  answered 
Philip,  his  heart  dancing  at  her  solicitude.  "It 
was  through  my  carelessness." 

"Don't  ye  be  belavin'  a  wor-rd  he  says,  miss!" 
burst  out  O'Dwyer.  "That  is  (beggin'  yer  par- 
don fer  spakin'  to  the  loikes  of  yez,  an'  me  a 
private!),  don't  ye  belave  'tis  his  fault.  He  kep' 
me  from  drownln',  that's  what  he  did!" 

O'Dwyer  had  noted  his  idol's  preoccupation 
since  Miss  Thornhill's  advent,  the  self-imposed 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 81 

aloofness,  and  had  drawn  his  own  shrewd  conclu- 
sions. He  determined,  here  and  now,  to  do  Dan- 
vers  a  good  turn,  despite  the  frown  on  the  doc- 
tor's face  and  Philip's  frantic  signaling.  "Lieu- 
tenant Danvers  is  the  finest  feller  God  ever 
made !"  he  blurted,  regardless. 

"Oh,  keep  still!  Keep  still!"  cried  the  exas- 
perated Englishman.  This  misplaced  loquacity! 

Eva  reached  out  suddenly,  frankly. 

"I  think  it's  time  we  knew  each  other,"  she 
said,  sweetly,  and  their  hands  met. 

That  touch!  Never  had  the  unsophisticated 
youth  felt  such  a  touch !  A  thrill  of  exquisite  life 
went  from  her  hand  to  his;  from  his  hand  to  his 
feet  and  the  vibrations  went  tingling  back  to  the 
girl.  For  the  first  time  Philip  looked  full  into 
the  blue  eyes  of  Eva  Thornhill. 

"You're  a  fool,  O'Dwyer!"  Danvers  heard  the 
doctor  remark,  as  they  proceeded  toward  the  fort. 
The  humbled  trooper,  hitching  his  arm  in  the 
improvised  sling  which  Philip  had  made,  groaned 
doleful  assent.  Too  late  he  remembered  the 
barrack-room  decision  that  Miss  Thornhill  was 
after  every  scalp  in  the  Whoop  Up  Country. 

And  Eva  Thornhill?  Her  opportunity  had 
come,  and  she  had  taken  it  as  a  gift  from  the 
gods.  Suddenly  she  knew  that  Philip  was  merged 
in  her  personality,  and  she  reveled  in  the  bloom 
of  quickly  grown,  fully  developed  passion.  By 


82 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  time  the  lieutenant  assisted  her  from  her  mare 
at  the  colonel's  headquarters  she  was  ready  to 
think  that  there  was  nothing  to  keep  them  apart. 
So  quickly,  hotly,  does  young  blood  run! 

Her  answer  to  the  question  that  was  ready  to 
slip  from  his  tongue — what  would  it  be?  As 
Danvers  lifted  the  flushing  girl  from  her  mount, 
her  eyes  gave  promise  beneath  their  long-lashed 
veiling  that  the  answer  would  not  be  "no." 

It  was  not  many  days  before  Major  Thornhill 
took  his  daughter  to  task  for  her  neglect  of  Mr. 
Burroughs. 

"Don't  you  let  go  of  Burroughs,"  he  coun- 
seled, with  brutal  sordidness.  "These  young  law- 
yers and  lieutenants  haven't  a  cent,  so  far  as  I 
can  find  out.  Burroughs  has  money  and  will  have 
more.  Remember  that  an  army  officer  never  has 
anything  to  leave  to  his  mourners." 

Eva  shrugged  her  shoulders;  but  her  training 
showed  her  the  wisdom  of  her  father's  advice, 
and  she  bestowed  more  favor  on  the  trader  than 
he  had  received  for  several  days.  However,  she 
decided  that  one  more  ride  with  the  lieutenant 
she  must  have,  and  so  impetuous  was  Philip  that 
she  allowed  him  to  say  more  than  she  intended 
he  should.  His  wooing  was  eager,  headlong. 

As  they  drew  near  the  town  on  their  return 
from  their  long  ride,  the  girl  saw  a  squaw  peering 
from  the  bushes  beside  the  trail. 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 83 

"Who  is  that  squaw?"  she  asked,  petulantly. 
"It  seems  to  me  that  I  never  go  out  but  she  is 
near  me!" 

"Oh — er "  he  stammered,  losing,  for  a  mo- 
ment, his  self-possession  as  he  recognized  Bur- 
roughs' property.  He  knew  that  the  trader  had 
pledged  his  intimates  to  secrecy  as  to  his  rela- 
tions with  Pine  Coulee  while  Miss  Thornhill  was 
a  visitor  at  Macleod,  and  he,  while  not  pledged, 
would  be  the  last  one  to  bring  her  in  any  way 
to  Eva's  notice.  "Oh,"  he  began  again,  "she's  a 
Blackfoot." 

"That  is  evasion,  pure  and  simple!"  retorted 
his  companion.  "She  wants  either  to  speak  to 
me — or  to  kill  me,  I've  not  decided  which.  Wait 
here!  I  am  going  to  speak  to  her!" 

"You  are  probably  the  first  white  woman  she 
ever  saw,"  Philip  tried  vainly  to  make  a  satis- 
factory explanation;  but,  to  his  consternation,  Eva 
was  gone. 

Pine  Coulee  stood  motionless  as  the  fair-haired 
girl  drew  rein  beside  her.  Never  had  she  shown 
her  Indian  blood  more  clearly  than  in  the  stolid 
awaiting  of  her  rival.  Danvers  drew  nearer, 
fearing  results. 

"Do  you  speak  English?"  Pine  Coulee  was 
asked.  "I  think  that  you  want  to  speak  to  me. 
What  is  it?  What  can  I  do  for  you?"  The  look 


84 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

of  dejection  on  the  dark  face  touched  even  Miss 
Thornhill. 

Silence. 

"What  a  big  baby!"  was  Eva's  next  effort  to 
gain  good-will. 

She  was  sure  that  the  squaw  could,  at  least,  un- 
derstand English;  and  the  gleam  of  motherhood, 
kindling  at  her  praise,  confirmed  her  belief. 

Silence. 

"What  is  the  baby's  name?" 

Silence  prolonged.  Eva  turned  away,  impa- 
tient that  her  advances  should  be  met  so  churl- 
ishly. Then,  swift,  malignant,  Pine  Coulee  spoke : 

"Him  name  Robert  Burroughs!  Robert  Bur- 
roughs!" The  words  came  with  startling  distinct- 
ness. 

Eva's  surprise  was  great.  She  shuddered  un- 
controllably. 

Pine  Coulee  understood  the  incredulity  in  the 
girl's  eyes,  and  rushed  on,  bitterly,  in  broken 
English : 

"Yes.  Robert  Burroughs!  Ask  him!"  point- 
ing to  Danvers  with  her  lips,  as  Indians  will. 
"Burroughs  mine!  You  not  have  him!  You 
take  this  man!  You  have  everything — Pine 
Coulee  have  nothing  but  Bob  and  his  baby!  You 
sha'n't  have  him !  No !  No !"  The  squaw, 
crazed  with  jealousy,  started  towards  Burroughs' 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 85 

house,  but  turned  back  with  real  dignity.  "I  hate 
you!  Why  you  come  to  steal  my  man?" 

Then  she  abruptly  took  her  bitter  way  along 
the  trail  till — Burroughs  blocked  her.  He  gave 
her  one  look  and  rode  forward. 

"Your  father  sent  me  to  look  for  you,  Miss 
Thornhill,"  he  began,  as  he  .drew  rein.  He  re- 
solved to  carry  the  matter  off  boldly,  if  Eva  re- 
ferred to  the  Indian  woman.  "If  you  like,  we 
will  ride  back  together,"  he  added,  nodding  to 
Danvers. 

"No,  no,  no!"  cried  Eva,  hysterically.  "I'm 
afraid  of — of  that — squaw!"  She  pointed  to 
Pine  Coulee,  who  had  followed  Burroughs  like  a 
blighting  shadow. 

"Git  out  of  here!"  Burroughs  emphasized  his 
command  to  the  squaw  with  a  vicious  kick.  Not 
realizing  how  much  the  words  would  reveal,  he 
added:  "I  tol'  yeh  ter  stay  in  the  house!" 

"I'll  care  for  Miss  Thornhill,  Burroughs,"  in- 
terrupted Danvers.  "Let  us  pass,  please!  Take 
Pine  Coulee  back  and  leave  decent  white  women 
to  others." 

"To  you?"  sneered  the  trader,  with  suddenly 
loosened  rage  at  maid  and  man. 

"Yes,  to  me!"  proudly  answered  Philip,  draw- 
ing closer  to  Eva's  mount.  The  girl  was  scarlet 
with  rage. 

"Oh,  it's  that  way,  is  it?"  snarled  Bob.     "You 


86 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

told  Miss  Thornhill — that's  plain  to  be  seen!" 

"He  did  not  tell!"  Eva  slipped  from  her 
lover's  protection  and  reined  her  horse  toward 
Burroughs.  "Lieutenant  Danvers  tried  to  shield 

you.  She — she "  Eva  looked  at  Pine  Coulee, 

nursing  her  bruised  forehead  (for  Burroughs  had 
kicked  to  hurt)  and  changed  her  words.  "The 
lieutenant  never — he  never  intimated — such — a — 
horrid — thing.  Of  course  you  will  understand 
that  I  no  longer  care  for  your  acquaintance !"  The 
reaction  came  and  she  begged:  "Oh,  Lieutenant 
Danvers,  take  me  to  father!" 

"Oh,  you  don't,  eh?"  sneered  the  trader. 
"There  are  many  years  ahead  of  us  both,  and 
the  time  may  come  when  you  will  want  my  help ! 
And  you,"  turning  to  Danvers,  "I'll  get  even  with 
you!  If  I  can't  win  Eva  Thornhill,  you  never 
shall,  mark  my  words!  I'll " 

"You  dare  to  threaten — us?  Get  out  of  our 
way!" 

With  a  touch  Danvers  quickly  started  both  his 
horse  and  Miss  Thornhill's.  After  a  brief  inter- 
val he  slowed  the  pace. 

"And  now,  darling,  you  must  let  me  care  for 
you  always,"  urged  Philip,  after  he  had  restored 
Eva  to  some  semblance  of  calm.  "Let  me  speak 
to  your  father  to-night!"  He  talked  on,  encour- 
aged by  the  girl's  silent  yielding  and  the  long  kiss 
he  laid  on  her  willing  lips.  She  was  told  of  his 


THE  HOT  BLOOD  OF  YOUTH 87 

prospects,  both  in  the  army  and  in  England,  where 
his  father  and  sister  lived.  He  told  her  of  his 
lovely  American  mother,  who  had  died  so  young. 
He  had  enlisted,  he  said,  for  sheer  love  of  a  mili- 
tary life. 

"Father  wanted  to  buy  a  commission  for  me, 
but  I  knew  I  could  get  one — without  money!" 
was  the  modest  close. 

The  afternoon  together  ended  by  Philip's  put- 
ting his  mother's  engagement  ring  on  Eva's  hand 
for  their  plighted  troth.  She  looked  at  it  a  mo- 
ment. 

"I  cannot  wear  this  now,"  she  said.  "If  we 
are  engaged,  I  want  it  to  be  kept  secret  until  next 
spring.  Don't  you  see,  dear,"  she  rubbed  her 
face  caressingly  on  Philip's  impatient  hand,  "that 
it  will  be  better  so  ?  Father  will  be  furious  when 
he  knows  that  I've  given  Mr.  Burroughs  his  conge, 
and  you'll  come  into  your  fortune  when  you  are 
twenty-one  next  June.  Father'll  never  consent 
until  then.  He'll  make  me  miserable  all  winter!" 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


The  Return  to  fort  Bent  on 


THAT  autumn  visit  of  Eva  Thornhill  glowed 
in  Danvers'  heart  like  the  riotous  colors  in 
the  gray  landscape  that  precedes  the  frost 
of  winter;  for  winter  was  coming,  her  visit  was 
over,  and  Eva  and  her  father  were  to  leave 
for  Fort  Benton  on  the  morrow.  Danvers  in- 
wardly chafed  under  the  secrecy  imposed  upon 
their  engagement,  and  yet  it  would  have  been 
hard  for  him  to  have  spoken  of  his  love  for  Eva, 
even  to  the  sympathetic  Latimer. 

But  he  longed  to  see  more  of  her,  to  drink 
his  fill  of  her  beauty  and  fix  her  image  in  his 
memory  that  he  might  not  famish  in  his  loneli- 
ness during  the  dreary  winter  months  when  they 
should  be  separated. 

Though  it  was  hard  to  evade  her  father,  Eva 


THE  RETURN  TO  FORT  BENTON    89 

Thornhill  granted  her  lover  a  last  interview. 
His  reserve,  now  softened  by  his  love,  fascinated 
the  girl,  and  the  element  of  secrecy  lent  a  ro- 
mantic touch  that  did  not  lessen  her  enjoyment 
of  the  situation.  Yet  it  was  a  relief  to  return  to 
Fort  Benton,  where  she  could  think  it  all  over 
and  avoid  her  father's  anger  at  a  possible  dis- 
covery. 

"You  will  write  to  me?"  said  Danvers  eag- 
erly, as  he  held  her  hands,  in  parting.  "There 
are  few  mails  in  the  winter,  but  some  one  will 
be  coming  up."  He  looked  imploringly  into  her 
eyes,  as  she  hesitated. 

"Of  course  I'll  answer  your  letters — Philip," 
she  spoke  the  name  deliberately,  as  though  en- 
joying her  right  to  the  familiarity  of  its  use.  "And 
when  shall  I  hear  from  you?" 

"Always;  whenever  you  will  close  your  eyes 
and  listen!  It  may  be  weeks  before  a  freighter 
makes  the  trip;  but  without  a  written  message 
you  will  know  that  I  am  thinking  of  you,  loving 
you!  Remember  it,  Eva!" 

His  arm  drew  her  close,  and  the  girl  caught 
his  ardor  as  she  returned  his  good-bye  kiss. 

"I  will,  dear;  oh,  I  will!"  She  clnug  to  him 
and  for  a  moment  caught  the  glory  of  his  vision. 
Real  tears  dimmed  her  eyes  as  her  lover  tenderly 
released  her,  and  the  man  was  satisfied. 


90 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

That  night  Latlmer  had  a  long  talk  with  his 
friend. 

"You  see,  old  man,  I  may  as  well  go  now, 
when  the  doctor  and  the  Thornhills  are  return- 
ing to  Fort  Benton.  It  may  be  weeks  before  I 
have  another  chance." 

Latimer,  too !  The  thought  sent  a  chill  to  the 
heart  of  the  lieutenant,  now  doubly  sensitive  to 
the  love  of  this  only  friend !  He  had  long  known 
that  Latimer  would  return  to  his  law  practice  in 
Fort  Benton,  but  the  time  had  never  been  set  for 
his  going. 

"The  years  of  outdoor  life,"  continued  Lati- 
mer, "have  made  a  new  man  of  me !"  patting  his 
chest,  not  yet  so  broad  as  Danvers'.  "And  if  I 
am  ever  to  go  back  to  the  law  I  must  get  about  it 
before  I  forget  all  I  ever  knew."  He  gave  his 
arguments  with  a  half  apology  as  if  to  soften 
the  sharpness  of  his  decision,  which  to  his  loyal 
heart  seemed  like  a  desertion  of  his  friend. 

Danvers  was  silent.  He  saw,  more  clearly  than 
his  companion,  that  the  doctor's  visit,  the  presence 
of  Major  Thornhill  and  his  daughter,  and  the 
association  with  those  of  his  own  class,  had  roused 
in  the  Southerner  a  longing  for  the  old  life  of 
civic  usefulness,  had  drawn  him  back  to  his  office, 
to  his  books  and  civilized  associations. 

"And  if  I  get  away  to-morrow,"  went  on  Lati- 
mer, "I  must  pack  up  my  few  belongings  in  the 


THE  RETURN  TO  FORT  BENTON    91 

morning,  and  shall  not  have  time  for  much  of  a 
good-bye — you  will  understand,  Phil?" 

"Yes,  indeed!"  said  Danvers,  realizing  that  he 
had  been  too  long  silent.  "Write  to  me  when 
you  can,  Arthur.  You  know  what  the  winters  are 
up  in  this  country." 

They  smoked  in  silence  for  an  hour  or  more — 
that  strange  communion  that  men  find  gives 
greater  sympathy  than  any  speech.  Then  Dan- 
vers wrung  the  hand  of  his  friend,  and  set  out 
for  the  barracks. 

Many  sober  faces  clustered  around  Eva  when 
she  said  good-bye  next  morning,  but  Burroughs' 
was  not  among  them.  He  had  said  nothing  of 
his  humiliation,  but  had  avoided  meeting  Miss 
Thornhill  again.  Her  father  was  greatly  dissatis- 
fied; he  thought  that  Eva's  reception  of  the  at- 
tention of  other  men  had  offended  the  trader, 
and  he  did  not  spare  his  blame  for  such  a  condi- 
tion of  things.  Eva  maintained  her  equanimity, 
feeling  that  she  had  done  well  to  preserve  the 
secret  of  her  engagement,  and  to  win  Philip's 
pledge  to  silence. 

Two  months  later  Robert  Burroughs  sold  out 
his  trading-post,  and  he,  too,  prepared  to  return 
to  the  States.  When  he  told  Pine  Coulee  that 
she  was  to  return  to  her  father's  lodge  with  the 
boy,  he  was,  for  the  first  time,  afraid  of  the 


92 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

woman.  All  her  savage  blood  surged  in  protest; 
his  offers  to  support  their  child  were  spurned. 
He  was  glad  when  the  squaw  was  sullenly  silent 
in  the  lodges  of  her  tribe,  and  he  determined 
never  to  come  again  to  Macleod — to  leave  the 
past  behind  him.  That  was  his  dominant  thought 
as  he  started  out  for  Fort  Benton,  accompanied 
by  his  familiar,  Wild  Cat  Bill. 

Their  life  at  Fort  Macleod  had  been  in  many 
ways  one  of  jeopardy.  He  had  run  incredible 
risks  of  exposure  and  ruin,  but  he  had  won, 
through  sheer  audacity  and  bravado.  He  smiled 
covertly  as  he  recalled  the  fact  that  he,  the  great- 
est whiskey  smuggler  in  the  Whoop  Up  Country, 
was  also  the  privileged  friend  of  an  unsuspecting, 
honorable,  upright  officer — Colonel  Macleod. 
Even  his  hardened  conscience  pricked  as  he 
thought  how  he  had  deceived  one  who,  with  some- 
what more  of  acumen,  and  somewhat  less  of  belief 
in  men,  would  have  been  most  severe  on  his 
wrong-doing. 

But  that  was  over.  To  turn  to  less  reprehensi- 
ble and  underhand  ways  would  be  easy,  he  was 
sure.  Or,  if  he  found  that  the  old  ways  of  ac- 
complishing his  purpose  were  more  profitable,  he 
would  exercise  them  on  bigger  projects  in  Mon- 
tana. He  had  made  a  fortune  in  the  Whoop  Up 
Country.  Now  he  intended  to  increase  it  in  the 
development  of  Montana's  resources.  He  pro- 


THE  RETURN  TO  FORT  BENTON    93 

posed  to  marry  and  rear  a  family,  as  became  a 
prosperous  and  respected  citizen. 

Dreams  of  statehood  were  beginning  to  waken 
into  hope  of  reality  among  the  sturdy  men  who 
dwelt  in  the  territory,  and  during  this  journey 
south  Burroughs  confided  to  Bill  his  ambition  to 
sit  in  the  United  States  Senate.  Fortune  had 
favored  him  so  far.  All  that  was  necessary  to 
further  his  ambitions  was  to  be  as  shrewd  and 
cautious  as  he  had  been  hitherto,  and  all  things 
should  be  his — with  Bill's  help.  Bill  listened — 
that  was  his  role  for  the  time  being.  But  he 
thought  well  of  the  plans,  and  said  so  before  his 
chief  referred  to  quite  another  subject — Pine 
Coulee  and  the  boy.  Here  Bill  found  no  words. 

Burroughs  opined  that  the  episode  with  Pine 
Coulee  was  nothing.  She  was  a  fool  to  expect 
him  to  continue  their  relations  simply  because 
there  was  a  child.  He  would  see  that  they  did 
not  suffer.  Really  Sweet  Oil  Bob  felt  a  glow  of 
self-approval  as  he  talked.  But  few  men  in  the 
Whoop  Up  Country  gave  a  thought  to  the  com- 
fort of  the  squaws  when  they  left  them.  And  as 
for  the  children — let  them  go  with  their  mothers ! 
It  was  the  easiest  thing  imaginable. 

To  Danvers  it  seemed  that  half  the  population 
of  Fort  Macleod  wras  leaving,  since  Scar  Faced 
Charlie  had  departed  months  before,  and  Toe 
String  Joe  had  been  dishonorably  discharged  and 


94 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

gone  out  of  the  country.  Only  the  loyal  O'Dwyer 
remained,  and  to  him  he  sometimes  spoke  of  Fort 
Benton  friends.  To  Eva  he  wrote  with  every 
outgoing  mail,  and  watched  eagerly  for  a  sign 
from  her  when  a  chance  freighter  should  bring 
the  Fort  Benton  mail.  Then  fever  broke  out  in 
the  barracks  and  Danvers  spent  his  nights  caring 
for  the  others  and  had  little  time  for  thought. 
His  splendid  constitution  seemed  able  to  bear  any 
amount  of  fatigue,  and  he  boasted  that  the  loss 
of  sleep  was  nothing — that  he  preferred  to  talk 
to  some  one — he  had  not  enough  to  do  to  keep 
busy! 

But  he  overestimated  his  strength,  and  when  a 
mail  was  brought  with  no  letter  from  Eva  the 
disappointment  and  anxiety  told  on  his  already 
overtaxed  constitution.  O'Dwyer  was  the  last 
to  convalesce,  and  even  he  was  no  longer  in  need 
of  constant  attention.  With  the  relaxing  of  the 
strain  came  Philip's  utter  collapse.  The  fever 
was  on  him,  and  for  weeks  he  talked  deliriously 
of  English  lanes,  of  his  sister  Kate,  of  his  rise  in 
the  service,  but  never  of  Eva  Thornhill.  It  was 
as  if  some  psychic  power  guarded  his  lips  and 
loyally  preserved  his  secret. 

The  spring  flowers  were  budding  when  he  again 
breathed  the  outer  air,  and  it  was  a  gaunt  figure 
which  sat  in  the  lee  of  the  stockade  one  day  in 


THE  RETURN  TO  FORT  BENTON    95 

May  and  took  the  package  of  letters  brought  from 
Fort  Benton. 

At  last !  Eva's  first  letter  lay  in  his  hand.  He 
forgave  her  the  long  silence.  The  winter  had 
been  unusually  severe  and  to  the  irregularity  of 
the  mails  he  ascribed  his  love's  apparent  defec- 
tion. With  trembling  fingers  he  opened  the  thin 
envelope.  The  letter  had  no  heading. 

"/  have  told  father  of  my  promise  to  you. 
He  refuses  absolutely  to  sanction  it  and  de- 
clares I  shall  never  marry  an  Englishman.  I 
now  agree  with  father  that  it  would  be  very 
unwise.  I  hate  the  army,  and  you  say  you 
will  never  leave  it.  It  is  best  that  we  under- 
stand each  other  at  once,  and  very  fortunate 
that  we  agreed  not  to  speak  of  our  engage- 
ment. I  have  not  heard  from  you  in  three 
months,  and  so  I  presume  you  are  tired  of  it 
and  as  glad  to  break  as  I  am." 

That  was  all.  The  dazed  convalescent  remem- 
bered that  his  letter  was  mailed  the  very  day  that 
he  went  to  the  hospital,  and  his  promise  of  silence 
made  it  impossible  to  ask  another  to  notify  her 
of  his  condition.  Fate's  cruelty  bit  deep.  The 
heartlessness  of  Eva's  dismissal  pierced  his  soul. 
Mechanically  he  took  up  a  letter  from  his  sister. 
"Dear  brother  Philip"  her  letter  began. 

"We  have  written  and  written.     What  has 


96 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

become  of  you  these  last  months?  Haven't 
you  received  the  solicitor's  letters  or  mine, 
telling  you  of  father's  sudden  death,  and  the 
discovery  that  we  are  almost  penniless — all 
the  fortune  gone?" 

Danvers  gasped,  weakly,  at  the  wealth  of  dis- 
aster. He  had  always  regarded  his  father  as  an 
exceptionally  acute  man  of  business.  And  now 
.  .  .  The  letters  of  which  his  sister  Kate  wrote 
had  never  reached  him.  The  mail  service  was 
wretched,  he  knew;  but  it  seemed  incredible  that 
such  important  letters  should  be  lost.  He  turned 
to  the  other  envelopes  just  received.  Yes,  there 
were  three  from  the  family  solicitors,  and  one 
from  Arthur  Latimer.  These  from  England  had 
probably  lain  at  Fort  Benton  all  winter.  Pres- 
ently he  read  on: 

"However,  you  no  doubt  have  received 
them  all  by  this  time.  I  write  this,  in  haste, 
to  ask  you  to  meet  me  at  Fort  Benton  by  the 
middle  of  June,  as  I  shall  come  to  America 
in  time  to  take  the  first  boat  leaving  Bis- 
marck. I  shall  have  about  a  hundred  pounds 
when  I  start.  I  am  determined  to  come  to 
you." 

With  some  expression  of  grief  at  their  bereave- 


THE  RETURN  TO  FORT  BENTON    97 

ment,  and  anticipation  of  seeing  her  brother,  the 
letter  closed. 

Come  up  to  the  Whoop  Up  Country!  His 
young,  unsophisticated  sister?  She  must  not! 
He  started  up,  thinking  to  send  a  rider  to  Fort 
Benton  with  a  message  to  cable  to  London.  But 
she  would  already  have  started.  And  how  could 
he  support  her  in  England?  How  support  her 
in  any  country  on  his  small  income,  used  as  she 
was  to  every  luxury?  It  was  horrible!  What 
to  do!  What  to  do!  At  last  he  took  up  Lati- 
mer's  letter.  At  least  here  would  be  something 
to  put  heart  into  a  fellow,  he  thought,  hopefully. 
The  bold  handwriting  seemed  so  like  the  light- 
hearted  Southerner  that  a  wan  smile  played  over 
Philip's  ghastly  face.  The  smile  faded  to  be  re- 
placed by  agony  as  the  sense  of  the  words  was 
absorbed — words  leaping  at  him,  fiendishly: 

"Dear  Old  Chum — /  am  the  happiest  fel- 
low alive.  Eva  Thornhill  and  I  were  mar- 
ried last  week,  and  our  only  regret  was  that 
you  could  not  be  my  best  man.  I  spoke  of 
it  several  times.  How  did  this  happen,  you 
ask?  Why,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  fall 
heir  to  something  like  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  this  winter,  and,  after  settling  the 
question  whether  there  was  any  understand- 
ing between  you  and  Eva  (she  assured  me 


98 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

there  never  had  been)  I  sailed  right  in — and 
she  is  mine. 

"Old  boy!  Eva's  the  dearest  little  piece 
of  guilelessness  in  the  world.  She's  told  me 
all  about  Burroughs,  and  even  confessed  that 
she  used  to  admire  you;  but  she  thought  you 
very  reserved.  I  have  told  how  companion- 
able you  really  are  and  how  she  should  have 
captured  you.  But  she  shakes  her  pretty 
head  and  says  that  she  is  jealous  of  you — 
that  I  am  fonder  of  you  than  of  her!  She's 
a  rogue!  I  used  to  be  dumbly  jealous  of  the 
other  fellows,  knowing  how  poor  I  was.  I 
had  to  keep  myself  well  in  hand,  I  tell  you, 
especially  when  I  used  to  see  you  two  to- 
gether. But  if  Eva  had  cared  for  you  (how 
could  she  help  it?)  I'd  have  been  the  first 
one  to  congratulate  you.  We  could  not  be 
rivals,  could  we,  dear  old  man? 

"We  are  going  East  for  the  summer,  and 
the  doctor  goes  with  us  as  far  as  St.  Louis. 
Wish  us  well,  Phil!  Why  haven't  you  writ- 
ten? I  know  it  has  been  a  bad  winter  and 
only  two  mails  from  Macleod,  but  I  expected 
to  hear  at  least  once. 

"I  wish  that  you  could  find  so  ideal  a  wife 
as    mine.      Dear,    innocent,    truthful — what 
more  can  man  ask?" 
Danvers   pulled  himself  up   from   the   bench, 


THE  RETURN  TO  FORT  BENTON    99 

wondering  why  the  day  had  grown  so  cold,  where 
the  sunshine  had  gone.  He  replaced  Latimer's 
letter  in  its  envelope,  dully,  slowly: 

'"Truthful— innocent!"  he  quoted.  "Poor 
Arthur!"  He  laughed — a  dreadful  sound.  Then 
he  fell  face  downward — and  so  they  found  him. 

A  pale-faced  youth  looked  with  dilated  eyes 
on  the  nearing  town  of  Fort  Benton.  It  was 
Philip  Danvers,  late  second  lieutenant  of  the 
North  West  Mounted  Police  of  Canada.  He  had 
lived  through  the  shock  which  the  three  letters 
had  brought  on  his  fever-weakened  frame,  and 
during  his  convalescence  determined  to  leave  the 
service  and  seek  employment  at  Fort  Benton.  To 
his  colonel  alone  he  gave  his  reasons.  His  sister 
Kate  was  a  delicate  girl,  unused  to  adversity.  His 
pay  was  insufficient  to  support  her,  even  if  she 
could  have  lived  at  Fort  Macleod.  She  must  be 
safe-guarded.  For  three  long,  hard,  lonely  years 
he  had  dreamed  of  a  commission,  and  now  that 
he  had  secured  it  he  must  give  it  up,  together  with 
hope  of  further  advancement.  There  was  no 
alternative. 

As  the  band  played  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind 
Me"  (invariably  rendered  when  men  in  the  Eng- 
lish service  change  garrison),  O'Dwyer  stepped 
forward  to  say  good-bye. 

"Sure,  Phil,"  he  blubbered,  "I'll  lave  the  ser- 


IOQ A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

vice  's  soon's  me  time's  up,  now  ye're  gone!  I'll 
folley  ye  to  Fort  Benton!" 

Danvers  turned  tear-dimmed  eyes  away  from 
his  friend,  from  the  low  fort  and  the  weather- 
beaten  stockade,  and  resolutely  denied  himself 
the  pain  of  looking  back  to  catch  the  last  flutter 
of  the  Union  Jack  as  the  long  rise  of  land  dipped 
toward  the  south.  How  often  had  he  strained 
his  eyes  to  see  that  symbol  of  his  country  as  he 
returned  from  the  various  forays  and  hunting 
trips!  But  duty  called!  This  was  the  only 
thought  that  he  dared  allow  himself — and  his 
sister,  his  sister!  She  had  no  one  but  him  to 
look  to,  and  in  his  loneliness  she  was  a  comfort- 
ing thought,  and  worth  all  the  sacrifice  of  his 
life's  ambitions. 

While  he  had  lain  unconscious,  in  his  illness, 
she  had  arrived  at  the  head  of  navigation,  and 
had  written  him  girlish,  impatient  letters.  He 
knew  that  Latimer  would  look  out  for  her  if  he 
and  Eva  had  returned  from  their  wedding  trip, 
but  he  was  sure  they  had  not,  and  felt  an  equal 
relief  that  he  need  offer  no  congratulations.  The 
doctor,  too,  Arthur  had  told  him,  was  in  St.  Louis. 
He  wondered  how  his  sister  had  passed  the  time. 
Once  she  had  mentioned  meeting  Burroughs,  and 
he  knew  that  she  was  living  at  the  little  hotel  that 
he  remembered.  He  was  frantic  to  reach  his 
destination  and  assume  a  brother's  responsibility 


THE  RETURN  TO  FORT  BENTON    101 

for  the  simple-hearted,  yielding,  young  English 
girl,  brought  abruptly  into  the  rough  Western 
life. 

As  he  drew  near  the  growing  town  of  Fort 
Benton  he  was  astounded  at  the  sight  of  what 
seemed  quite  a  metropolis  to  his  eyes,  so  long 
accustomed  to  the  log  buildings  and  the  scant 
population  of  Fort  Macleod. 

As  the  road  dipped  over  the  bench  and  led  into 
town  he  saw,  riding  to  meet  him — was  it  his  sis- 
ter?— and  with  her,  Robert  Burroughs! 

But  Danvers  was  on  his  feet,  and  as  he  assisted 
the  girl  to  dismount  she  slid  into  his  arms  and 
put  up  her  lips  for  a  kiss. 

When  something  like  coherence  was  evolved 
from  the  rush  of  questions  and  answers,  Kate 
turned  shyly  toward  Burroughs,  who  still  sat  upon 
his  horse. 

She  took  her  brother  by  the  hand. 

"Phil,  dear,  you  have  not  spoken  to  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs. He  has  told  me  so  much  of  your  life 
together  in  the  Whoop  Up  Country,  and  what 
friends  you  are.  He  has  been  most  kind  to  me. 
When  I  learned  that  you  were  ill,  I  was  so 
alarmed — alone  !  But  he — that  is — I " 

"Why,  it's  this  way,  Danvers,"  interrupted 
Burroughs,  speaking  with  more  correctness  than 
Phil  had  before  heard  him,  and  willingly  taking 
the  onus  of  explanation — his  hour  had  come. 


io2 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Your  sister  couldn't  go  to  Macleod,  of  course. 
She  couldn't  stay  here,  alone.  You'll  stay  with 
the  Police,  no  doubt;  and,  as  Latimer  and  his  wife 
are  away,  it  fitted  right  in  with  my  plans" — he 
paused  to  enjoy  the  dismay  on  Danvers'  face — 
"to  ask  Kate  to  do  me  the  honor  of  marrying  me. 
You  remember,"  he  hastened  to  add,  "don't  you, 
that  I  once  told  you  that  you'd  not  only  never 
marry  Eva  Thornhill,  but  that  I'd  marry  your 
sister?" 

The  dark,  exultant  face  flashed  the  same  look 
of  hate  that  greeted  Philip  on  the  Far  West,  and 
later  gloomed  through  the  dimly  lighted  trading- 
post  on  the  night  of  the  dance!  With  a  groan 
Danvers  realized,  as  he  looked  at  his  suddenly 
shrinking  sister,  that  the  sacrifice  of  his  life's  am- 
bition had  been  in  vain. 


BOOK  III 


THE  STATE 
"  What  constitutes  a  state? 

Men  who  their  duty  know.' 


105 


Visitors  from  Helena-- 

ttr1 


PHILIP  DANVERS,  cattleman,  nearing  Fort 
Benton  on  his  return  from  a  round-up, 
found  his  thoughts  reverting  to  the  past. 
The  spring  day  was  like  another  that  he  remem- 
bered when  he  first  caught  sight  of  the  frontier 
town  more  than  a  dozen  years  before.  He  noted 
the  smoke  of  a  railroad  locomotive  as  it  trailed 
into  nothingness,  and  involuntarily  he  looked  to- 
ward the  Missouri  River;  but  there  was  no  boat 
steaming  up  the  river,  and  the  unfurrowed  water 
brought  a  sadness  to  his  face. 

He  recalled  the  doctor's  vigorous  opposition  a 
few  years  previous,  when  the  question  of  a  rail- 
road came  before  the  residents  of  Fort  Benton. 
Perhaps  the  doctor  had  been  right  in  thinking  that 

107 


io8 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  river  traffic  would  be  destroyed,  and  with  it 
the  future  of  the  town.  Certainly  his  derided 
prophecy  had  been  most  literally  fulfilled.  In- 
stead of  becoming  a  second  St.  Louis,  the  village 
lay  in  undisturbed  tranquillity,  but  little  larger 
than  when  the  Far  West  had  brought  the  first 
recruits  of  the  North  West  Mounted  Police  to  its 
levees.  To  those  who  loved  the  place,  who  be- 
lieved in  it,  the  result  caused  by  the  changing  con- 
ditions of  Western  life  was  well-nigh  heartbreak- 
ing. 

Instead  of  the  terminus  of  a  great  waterway — 
the  port  where  gold  was  brought  by  the  ton  to 
be  shipped  East  from  the  territorial  diggings;  the 
stage  where  moved  explorer,  trader,  miner  and 
soldier — instead  of  being  the  logical  metropolis 
of  the  entire  Northwest,  Fort  Benton  lay  a 
drowsy  little  village,  embowered  in  cottonwoods 
and  dependent  upon  the  cattlemen  who  made  it 
their  headquarters  for  shipping. 

The  lusty  bull-whacker's  yell,  the  mule-skinner's 
cry  and  the  pop  of  long,  biting  whips  were  heard 
no  more  in  the  broad,  sweeping  curve  of  the  Mis- 
souri. The  levees  were  no  longer  crowded  with 
bales  of  merchandise,  piles  of  buffalo  hides  and 
boxes  of  gold.  No  steamers  tied  up  to  the  rotting 
snubbing-posts ;  the  bustle  of  the  roustabouts,  the 
oaths  of  the  mates,  the  trader's  activity  had  van- 
ished forever,  as  irrevocably  as  the  buffalo  on  the 


VISITORS  FROM  HELENA 109 

plains.  Nothing  in  the  prospect  before  him  sug- 
gested to  Danvers  the  well-remembered  past  ex- 
cept the  old  adobe  fort  on  the  water's  edge.  One 
bastion  and  a  part  of  a  wall  recalled  to  the  Anglo- 
American  his  first  homesick  night  in  the  North- 
west. Even  the  trading-posts  on  the  river  between 
Bismarck  and  Fort  Benton  were  abandoned. 

The  man  had  altered  as  well.  It  was  evident 
that  the  shy  reserve  of  the  Kentish  youth  had 
changed  to  the  dignity  of  the  reticent  man.  The 
military  bearing  remained;  the  eyes  were  steady 
and  observant,  as  of  old;  but  the  youthful  red 
and  white  of  his  face  had  been  replaced  by  a 
clear  tan,  marked  by  lines  of  thought.  In  a  coun- 
try of  bearded  and  seldom-shaved  men,  Philip's 
clean  face  added  not  a  little  to  that  look  of  dis- 
tinction which  had  impressed  the  passengers  on 
the  Far  West  and  gained  the  first  enmity  of  Rob- 
ert Burroughs. 

Danvers  was  still  unmarried.  At  rare  inter- 
vals he  read  the  old  clipping  of  the  two  souls  sep- 
arated and  seeking  each  other,  but  the  legend  had 
grown  dim.  The  romantic  dreams  of  boyhood 
were  gone.  He  doubted  that  his  heart  would 
ever  be  roused  again;  that  the  phoenix  flame  of 
love  would  rise  from  the  ashes  of  what  he  knew 
had  been  but  the  stirring  of  adolescent  blood  when 
he  fancied  that  he  loved  Eva  Thornhill.  The 
home  life  of  others  had  not  impressed  him  as  a 


no A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

dream  fulfilled.  The  gradual  disillusionment  of 
the  many  was  disheartening,  and  Latimer's  worn, 
unhappy  face  was  a  constant  reminder.  Arthur 
Latimer!  That  blithe  Southerner — believer  in 
men — and  women!  Philip  knew  what  had  made 
him  seek  forgetfulness  in  the  law  and  politics. 
The  success  of  his  friend,  who  had  reached  his 
goal,  on  the  supreme  bench,  had  gratified  Dan- 
vers,  and  Latimer's  enthusiasm  and  persistent  be- 
lief in  the  ultimate  good,  when  the  builders  and 
founders  of  the  newly  formed  State  should  merge 
personal  desires  into  one — one  that  had  the  best 
good  of  all  for  its  incentive,  tempered  his  dislike 
for  American  politics. 

Not  long  after  the  round-up,  Philip  Danvers 
received  a  call  from  Wild  Cat  Bill,  now  known 
in  Montana  as  the  Honorable  William  Moore. 
His  ability  to  promote  big  enterprises,  whether 
floating  a  mining  company  or  electing  a  friend 
to  the  legislature,  was  publicly  known,  and  Dan- 
vers wondered  silently  what  had  brought  the  poli- 
tician from  Helena  to  the  semi-deserted  town  of 
Fort  Benton,  and  induced  him  to  favor  him  with 
a  call. 

"Yes,  Danvers,"  volunteered  the  affable  Moore, 
"I  just  thought  I'd  take  a  few  days  off  and  see 
what  the  old  place  looked  like." 

Danvers  noticed  that  he  had  dropped  the  ver- 


VISITORS  FROM  HELENA 


nacular,  though  his  speech  was  characteristic  of 
the  West. 

"It's  always  a  pleasure  to  go  back  to  the  early 
days,  when  we  roughed  it  together,"  Bill  went  on. 

Philip  doubted  the  pleasure.  He  recognized 
this  sentiment  as  a  very  recent  acquisition  in  the 
Honorable  William  Moore,  and  waited  for  fur- 
ther enlightenment  as  to  the  real  purpose  of  the 
visit. 

"The  old  bunch  turned  out  pretty  well,  after 
all,"  Moore  commented.  "Robert  Burroughs  is 
a  millionaire  !  Your  sister  was  in  luck,  all  right  ! 
And  Bob  was  tickled  to  death  when  a  baby  came. 
A  big  girl  by  this  time  !" 

A  dangerous  look  —  a  look  that  made  Wild  Cat 
Bill  remember  the  night  of  the  dance  at  the  trad- 
ing-post —  warned  the  Honorable  William  to  drop 
personalities.  The  one  fact  that  made  the  position 
of  his  sister  tolerable  to  Danvers  was  the  knowl- 
edge that  Burroughs  took  pride  in  his  wife  and 
child  and  lavished  his  wealth  upon  them. 

"And  you  and  the  doctor  still  cling  to  Fort 
Benton!"  The  next  remark  of  the  caller  was 
spoken  with  commiseration.  "Is  the  doctor  still 
preaching  its  future?" 

Danvers  winced  at  what  seemed  a  thrust  at  an 
old  friend.  "My  cattle  make  it  necessary  for  me 
to  ship  from  Fort  Benton  and  —  I  like  the  place," 
he  acknowledged  without  apology. 


ii2 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"And  Joe  Hall — you  recall  Toe  String  Joe?" 

There  was  ample  reason  why  Philip  Danvers 
should  remember  the  disloyal  trooper,  dishonor- 
ably discharged. 

"Queer  idea  of  Joe's  to  enlist  in  the  first  place," 
continued  Moore.  "He  made  a  much  better 
miner.  You're  following  his  case  in  court,  I  sup- 
pose?" 

A  subtle  change  in  expression  made  the  cattle- 
man aware  that  all  his  visitor's  remarks  had  been 
preliminary  to  this  one.  It  was,  then,  the  famous 
case  of  Hall  vs.  Burroughs  that  for  some  reason 
Bill  Moore  thought  worth  a  trip  from  Helena  to 
discuss. 

"Burroughs  can't  afford  to  lose  that  case,"  de- 
clared Moore. 

"He'll  lose  it  if  Joe  has  fair  play!"  cried  Dan- 
vers. 

Philip  felt  no  love  for  the  recruit  of  early  days, 
but  his  sense  of  justice  asserted  itself  when  he 
recalled  the  years  that  Burroughs  had  made  a 
tool  of  Toe  String  Joe  at  Fort  Macleod,  and 
later  robbed  him  of  his  mining  claim  at  Helena. 
Burroughs  had  grub-staked  him  and  secured  a 
half  interest.  At  a  time  when  Joe  was  down 
sick,  and  hard  pressed  with  debts,  Burroughs 
rushed  a  sale  with  Eastern  capitalists  and  forced 
Joe  Hall  to  relinquish  the  claim  for  $25,000. 
When  Joe  discovered  that  it  had  brought 


VISITORS  FROM  HELENA 


$125,000,  and  that  Burroughs  had  pocketed  the 
difference,  he  went  to  law  and  won  his  suit.  Bur- 
roughs had  appealed,  and  now  the  case  was  be- 
fore the  Supreme  Court. 

"There  are  politics  in  the  Supreme  Court  as 
well  as  elsewhere,"  ventured  Moore,  with  a  mean- 
ing look. 

"It  is  usually  thought  otherwise,  I  believe." 

"I  don't  know  what's  usually  thought.  I  know 
it's  a  fact." 

"Perhaps  corruption  can  be  found  -  " 

"Perhaps!"  sneered  the  caller.  "I  tell  you 
politics  is  a  matter  of  a-gittin'  plenty  while  you're 
gittin'." 

"I  was  not  speaking  of  politics,  but  of  corrup- 
tion." 

"What's  the  difference?"  cynically.  "Now,  I 
say  that  Judge  Latimer  can  be  influenced." 

"Indeed!" 

"I'm  thinking  that  it  would  be  safe  to  approach 
him  in  this  case  of  Bob's." 

"Are  you  going  to  try  it?"  Danvers'  tone  con- 
tinued impersonal. 

The  Honorable  William  Moore  hurried  on. 
He  breathed  as  one  having  put  forth  more 
strength  than  was  required  —  breathed  as  he  had 
breathed  when  the  detachment  of  Mounted  Po- 
lice rode  up  to  the  small  trading-post  where  he 
had  barely  succeeded  in  concealing  his  smuggled 


ii4 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

whiskey.  He  laughed  a  little,  threw  his  cigar 
away  and  put  his  thumbs  firmly  together  with 
fingers  clasped — a  familiar  mannerism. 

"See  here,  Danvers!  This  case  mustn't  go 
against  Burroughs.  Bob's  a  good  fellow.  He 
did  what  any  one  else  would  have  done.  He 
wasn't  looking  out  for  Joe  Hall.  He  did  all  the 
head-work,  and  at  the  time  Joe  was  satisfied  with 
the  price.  Of  course  you  know  that  Bob's  going 
to  run  for  United  States  Senator  next  winter. 
And  he's  not  over  popular  in  Montana ;  you  know 
how  it  is,  moneyed  interest  against  labor  (so  the 
common  herd  think),  and  this  case  has  made  more 
talk  than  everything  else  put  together  that  Bob 
ever  did." 

"Well?"  Philip's  eyes  had  a  gleam  that  Moore 
did  not  care  to  meet.  Perhaps  he  had  been  too 
confidential.  He  walked  about  the  room,  nerv- 
ously, his  right  hand  grasping  the  rear  of  his  coat. 
At  last  he  forced  himself  to  say  bluntly: 

"If  you'll  go  to  Judge  Latimer  and  tell  him 
how  you  feel — that  Burroughs  is  your  brother-in- 
law — that  sort  of  talk,  and  that  if  the  case  goes 
against  Bob,  Latimer'll  never  get  re-elected  to  the 
supreme  bench — oh,  you  know  what  to  say.  Any- 
way, if  you'll  do  this  you'll  be  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  better  off — that's  all ;  and  I  tell  you,  you'll 
need  the  money  before  next  winter  is  over  if  this 
drouth  continues.  Your  cattle  must  be  in  bad 


VISITORS  FROM  HELENA 115 

shape  now.     Just  tell  Latimer   how  you  feel." 

"How  do  you  know  how  I  feel  about  this 
case?"  Danvers  kept  himself  well  under  control, 
though  he  felt  his  blood  pounding. 

"It  isn't  so  much  what  you  feel  as  what  you 
say." 

Philip  looked  at  the  man. 

"You  haven't  got  the  money,  Bill." 

"Haven't  I  ?"  boasted  Moore.  "Look  at  this !" 
He  made  a  quick  dive  inside  his  coat.  "Three 
packages  of  twenty-five  thousand  each!"  He  ex- 
ulted as  he  displayed  the  bills.  "They  were 
handed  to  me  just  before  I  took  the  train, 
and " 

"Bill  Moore,"  said  the  cattleman  curiously, 
"did  you  think  for  a  moment  that  I  could  be  pur- 
chased?" 

The  Honorable  Mr.  Moore  sparred. 

"Or  Arthur  Latimer?"  continued  Danvers. 

"What  else  am  I  here  for?"  cried  Moore  in  a 
rage.  "Every  man's  got  his  price.  Latimer's 
poor  as  a  church  mouse.  He's  got  a  wife  like  a 
vampire.  And  as  for  you — I  know  cattle  raising 
isn't  all  profit!" 

"The  trouble  with  you,  Bill,"  said  Danvers, 
dispassionately,  "is  that  you  judge  every  man  by 
yourself.  You  can't  understand  a  man  like  Judge 
Latimer — the  thing  would  be  impossible !" 

"It's  you  who  are  judging  by  yourself !     We  all 


n6 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

know  you're  a  fanatic — or  used  to  be.  I  thought 
perhaps  you'd  gotten  over  some  of  those  notions. 
I  know  Judge  Latimer  as  well  as  you  do.  If  we 
don't  get  him  one  way,  we'll  take  another.  We're 
goin'  to  win!" 

Danvers  made  no  reply.  The  Honorable  Will- 
iam waited  for  a  moment,  and  then  put  back  the 
packages  he  had  flung  on  the  table.  He  looked 
his  surprise ;  he  could  not  understand  how  he  had 
been  foiled  with  no  anger. 

"You  say  you  know  my  standards,"  began  Dan- 
vers, slowly.  "Then  why  did  you  come  to  me?" 

"We  had  to  make  the  try;  nobody  could  influ- 
ence Judge  Latimer  like  you." 

"But  what  good  would  the  money  do  him?" 
questioned  Danvers,  unable  to  follow  the  reason- 
ing of  the  politician.  "It  would  be  found  out  and 
Latimer  would  be  ruined." 

"Oh,  no,  it  wouldn't."  Moore  was  hopeful 
again. 

"Why  didn't  you  approach  him  yourself?"  It 
was  an  afterthought. 

"It  looks  more  natural  for  you  to  be  interested 
in  your  brother-in-law.  Bob  said  to  see  you." 

"So  this  is  his  method  of  beginning  a  campaign 
for  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate!" 

"We  knew  we  could  trust  you !"  replied  Moore. 

And  Danvers  knew  that  the  man  believed  he 
was  paying  a  sincere  tribute. 


VISITORS  FROM  HELENA 


More  than  a  month  after  this  conversation 
Judge  Latimer  also  paid  a  visit  to  Fort  Benton 
and  straightway  sought  his  dearest  friend. 

"I  wanted  to  get  away  from  business,  from  — 
everything  that  distracts  one,"  he  explained,  "and 
I  wanted  to  see  you,  Phil,  and  the  doctor,  and 
dear  old  sleepy  Fort  Benton  again." 

He  looked  worn  and  distracted  —  thinner  than 
Philip  remembered  him,  and  in  need  of  something 
more  than  physical  relaxation. 

"Are  you  quite  well,  Arthur?"  asked  Danvers 
solicitously.  "I'm  going  to  have  the  doctor  over 
to  give  you  a  thorough  examination,  and  I'll  see 
that  you  carry  out  all  his  directions.  You  don't 
take  a  bit  of  care  of  yourself!" 

But  in  the  evening,  after  a  day  in  the  open  air, 
he  brightened,  and  under  the  old  spell  of  comrade- 
ship he  took  on  the  boyish  manner  that  had  been 
so  marked  a  characteristic. 

"And  how  are  all  our  friends  at  Helena?"  in- 
quired the  doctor,  after  he  had  secured  a  favor- 
able report  of  Eva  and  the  baby.  "All  well,  of 
course,  or  I  should  have  heard  from  them!"  he 
went  on,  with  the  geniality  that  Latimer  remem- 
bered so  well.  "And  little  Arthur  —  he  must  be 
quite  a  lad  now  -  " 

"Six  —  and  so  proud  of  his  new  sister,"  replied 
the  father,  with  a  note  of  pride  that  Danvers 
marked  with  thankfulness.  The  tenderness  in  the 


n8 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

man's  eyes  told  him  that  this  little  son  was  the 
sole  balm  of  a  harrassed  life,  and  he  wondered  if 
even  this  great  compensation  was  adequate  for  all 
the  man  had  given — and  lost. 

"Why  didn't  you  bring  the  little  chap  with 
you?"  questioned  the  doctor. 

"I  did  think  of  it,"  confessed  Latimer,  "but 
this  is  a  business  trip  chiefly,  if  I  must  own  up 
to  it.  I  want  to  talk  over  the  situation  with  some- 
one I  know — someone  I  can  trust." 

"Anything  special?"  asked  the  doctor. 

"Politics!"  replied  the  judge.  "The  political 
pot  is  beginning  to  get  a  scum  on  the  top,  prepara- 
tory to  boiling." 

"How  domestic  a  simile !"  jeered  the  doctor. 

Latimer  laughed.  "We've  been  without  a  maid 
lately,  and  I've  had  a  chance  to  see  the  inside 
workings  of  a  kitchen.  Not  that  it's  Eva's  fault," 
he  added  hastily.  "Maids  are  hard  to  get." 

"H-m-m,"  assented  the  doctor,  judicially,  and 
soon  the  three  were  deep  in  Montana  politics. 

The  probable  nominees  for  state  officials  were 
gone  over,  and  Danvers  remarked: 

"You  are  sure  of  re-election,  Arthur." 

"No,  I'm  not;  not  even  of  nomination,"  ob- 
jected the  judge.  "The  Honorable  William 
Moore  has  been  to  see  me " 

Danvers  shot  him  a  keen  glance,  and  the  doc- 
tor listened  curiously. 


VISITORS  FROM  HELENA 119 

"He  was  interested  in  the  Hall  and  Burroughs 
case."  Latimer  hesitated,  and  a  spot  of  color 
suddenly  burned  in  his  cheeks.  "Moore  evidently 
thought  it  necessary  to  come  to  me  and  ask  that 
Burroughs  have  fair  play!" 

The  doctor  laughed.  It  was  an  opportunity 
to  tease  the  boy  he  loved;  not  a  serious  impeach- 
ment of  the  character  of  the  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

"He  offered  me  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  if 
I'd  take  a  rest!  Suggested  Europe!"  The  judge's 
voice  trembled. 

"The  devil  he  did!"  burst  from  the  physician. 

"He  raised  his  price  by  the  time  he  got  to  you," 
commented  Danvers. 

"What?"  Latimer  whirled,  amazed,  toward 
the  speaker. 

"When  Moore  asked  me  to  intercede  with  you 
for  Burroughs  he  had  only  twenty-five  thousand 
for  each  of  us." 

"What  does  Burroughs  think  I  am?"  groaned 
the  judge.  "He  should  know  me  better  than  to 
send  Moore  on  his  dirty  business,  but  nothing  I 
could  say  made  any  impression.  He  left,  telling 
me  to  think  it  over." 

"Do  you  know  if  he  tried  the  others?" 

"No.  I've  not  mentioned  the  matter  to  any- 
one— except  Eva.  I  was  so  outraged  that  I  had 
to  speak  to  someone.  And  she — she  doesn't  un- 


IIP A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

derstand.  She  would  enjoy  a  trip  to  Europe,  and 
I — I  can't  give  it  to  her." 

His  two  friends  were  silent,  and  presently  Lati- 
mer  went  on. 

"And  all  this  means  that  when  it  comes  time 
to  go  before  the  convention  this  fall  I  shall  have 
Burroughs  and  his  cohorts  against  me." 

"You  seem  sure  of  his  opposition,"  remarked 
Danvers.  "The  case  isn't  decided  yet.  If  it  is 
in  favor  of  Burroughs " 

"The  decision  was  handed  down  this  morning. 
It  was  in  favor  of  Hall." 

"Good!"  chorused  Danvers  and  the  doctor. 

"The  election  will  turn  out  all  right  for  you, 
too,"  prophesied  the  doctor,  "and  especially  with 
Danvers  to  help.  The  judge  and  I  have  been 
plotting  against  you  for  some  time,  Phil,"  he  ex- 
plained. "We  want  you  to  go  into  politics." 

Danvers  shook  his  head. 

"Wait  a  minute,"  urged  the  doctor.  "It's  like 
this,  Danvers.  You're  an  American,  as  much  as 
we  are.  You  have  taken  out  your  naturalization 
papers.  You  never  think  of  leaving  Montana. 
You  have  a  splendid  cattle  business,  and  you  love 
Fort  Benton  almost  as  much  as  I  do." 

The  cattleman  smiled  as  the  doctor  outlined 
his  position,  and  owned  that  he  did  love  the  coun- 
try of  his  adoption. 

"And  here's  poor  Latimer  struggling  on  alone 


VISITORS  FROM  HELENA 


up  there  at  Helena,  while  you  and  I  devote  our 
time  to  making  a  fortune  -  " 

"What  are  you  offered  for  lots  in  Fort  Ben- 
ton  now,  Doctor?"  teased  Latimer,  with  a  flash 
of  his  old  humor.  "Let  me  explain,  Phil,"  he 
said. 

"I  know  it  would  be  a  sacrifice  for  you  to  leave 
your  business  here;  you've  made  a  success  with 
your  cattle,  and  I  envy  you  the  independent,  care- 
free existence." 

"You  don't  appreciate  the  difficulties  with 
drouths  and  blizzards,"  put  in  Danvers,  "to  say 
nothing  of  competition  and  low  prices." 

"Nothing!"  exclaimed  Latimer,  with  a  gesture 
of  his  hand  that  swept  away  such  trivialities  like 
mere  cobwebs  that  annoy  but  do  not  obstruct  the 
vision.  "All  this  is  nothing!  It  is  the  compli- 
cations with  men  —  the  relations  with  people  — 
that  weary  and  sicken  and  break  the  heart  !  I've 
tried  to  put  up  a  clean  record,  a  straight  fight; 
I've  tried  to  give  honest  service,  and  it  seems  as 
if  the  odds  were  all  against  me!" 

"What  do  you  want?"  asked  Danvers,  more 
moved  at  the  sight  of  his  friend's  distress  than  the 
need  of  his  country. 

"We  want  to  put  you  in  the  Legislature  as  the 
senator  from  Chouteau  County!"  cried  Latimer, 
flushed  and  eager.  "If  only  a  better  class  of  men 
would  go  into  politics!  I  can't  blame  them  for 


122 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

wanting  to  keep  out,  and  yet  what  is  our  country 
coming  to?  What  can  one  man  do  alone?  If 
you  or  the  doctor  or  men  of  that  character  were 
in  office,  it  wouldn't  be  so  hard  a  fight.  And  with 
you  in  Helena,  Phil " 

The  familiar  name,  in  the  soft  voice  of  the 
Southerner,  stirred  the  heart  of  Danvers  like  a 
caress.  He  was  lonely,  too — he  had  not  realized 
how  much  so,  till  the  hand  of  his  friend  was 
stretched  out  to  him,  not  only  for  aid,  but  for 
companionship.  His  heart  throbbed  as  it  had  not 
done  since  a  woman  fired  his  boyish  imagination. 
In  the  long  years  on  the  range  he  had  grown  in- 
different, and  rejoiced  in  his  lack  of  feeling.  Now 
he  was  waking,  he  was  ready  to  take  up  his  work 
in  the  world  of  men,  ready  to  open  his  heart  at 
the  call  of  one  who  would  be  his  mate. 

"I  might  be  induced  to  run,  since  you  put  it 
so  strongly,"  said  Danvers,  with  a  lightness  that 
did  not  conceal  from  either  of  his  friends  the 
depth  of  his  feeling. 

"Thank  you,  Phil." 

Danvers  took  the  thin,  nervous  hand  extended 
to  him,  and  held  it  with  a  grasp  that  sent  cour- 
age into  the  heart  of  Judge  Latimer.  It  was  a 
hand  that  had  guided  bucking  bronchos  and  held 
lassoed  steers,  and  the  man  weary  with  life's  bat- 
tles knew  that  a  friend  had  come  to  his  aid  who 
would  blench  at  no  enemy. 


VISITORS  FROiM  HELENA 


"Do  you  need  any  more  men?"  inquired  Dan- 
vers,  with  a  tone  of  assurance  and  natural  leader- 
ship that  amazed  them  both. 

"Do  we  need  them?  Can  you  produce  any 
more?  That  is  the  question,"  said  Latimer. 

"There's  always  O'Dwyer,  of  course!"  laughed 
Danvers. 

"Is  he  as  devoted  as  ever?"  inquired  Latimer. 

"The  same  old  worshipper,"  declared  the 
doctor.  "And,  by  George  !  now  you  speak  of  it, 
he  wouldn't  make  a  bad  representative!" 

The  three  men  talked  over  the  situation  and 
planned  a  brief  campaign,  sending  Arthur  Lati- 
mer home,  cheered  and  strengthened.  Neverthe- 
less, after  they  had  said  good-bye  at  the  station, 
the  doctor  turned  to  Danvers  with  a  heavy  sigh. 

"Latimer's  heart  is  in  bad  condition.  He's 
going  to  have  trouble  with  it.  And  the  nervous 
strain  he  lives  under  so  constantly  is  more  than 
I  can  reckon  with.  If  he  could  rest  at  home  — 
but  I  know  how  it  was  when  they  lived  at  Fort 
Benton!" 

"Arthur  has  changed,"  said  Danvers,  sadly. 

"I'll  never  forget,"  said  the  doctor,  speaking 
more  freely  than  ever  before,  "the  time  when 
Latimer  first  discovered  that  Eva  did  not  care 
for  him.  He  took  it  all  to  himself,  and  was 
broken-hearted  because  he  had  failed  to  keep  her 
affections.  Think  of  it!" 


i24 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Did  she  ever  care  for  him?"  Danvers  could 
not  resist  asking. 

"I  hardly  think  so.  I  always  had  an  idea  that 
her  heart — what  there  is  of  it — was  captured  by 
an  army  officer."  He  looked  slyly  at  his  compan- 
ion as  they  walked  through  the  gloom. 

"Nothing  so  low  in  rank  as  a  second  lieuten- 
ant!" evaded  Danvers. 

"You  were  fortunate,  after  all,  Philip,  though 
it  would  have  been  better  for  Eva.  She  needed 
a  master — and  she  took  our  gentle,  sensitive, 
chivalrous  Arthur!  He  will  break;  break  like 
fine  tempered  steel  when  the  strain  becomes  too 
great." 


CHARLIE  BLAIR'S  SISTER 


125 


^«^  Jl_d  ^J    L  C  T 

Blair's  Sister 

THE  summer  sped  hot  and  with  but  little 
rain.  Some  ten  days  before  the  state  con- 
vention, the  Doctor  and  Danvers  went  to 
Helena.  A  strong  opposition  to  Judge  Latimer's 
renomination  had  developed,  which  was  not  trace- 
able to  any  definite  source.  Although  Danvers 
avowed  a  dislike  for  politics,  in  reality  he  had  the 
inherent  instinct  for  political  life  characteristic  of 
the  upper-class  Englishman,  and  he  threw  him- 
self into  the  maelstrom  with  all  his  forces  well 
in  hand.  Office-seeking  was  disgusting  to  him, 
but  the  fight  for  his  friend  seemed  worth  the 
effort. 

In  the  midst  of  the  political  excitement,  Mrs. 
Latimer  gave  a  dinner-party,  and  Philip  Danvers 


126 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

could  not  refuse  his  invitation  without  causing 
comment,  and,  what  was  of  more  consequence  to 
his  independent  nature,  wounding  his  friend  Ar- 
thur. He  had  met  Eva  Latimer  occasionally 
when  they  lived  at  Fort  Benton,  but  had  pre- 
ferred to  lure  Arthur  to  his  own  quarters,  or  the 
doctor's  office,  for  an  old-time  visit,  rather  than 
invade  the  formalities  of  the  Latimer  residence. 
Since  his  friend  had  been  on  the  supreme  bench 
Danvers  had  not  often  seen  Eva,  and  now  the 
great  house  in  the  suburbs  of  Helena — so  much 
more  elaborate  than  Latimer  could  afford,  im- 
pressed him,  as  it  had  on  previous  calls,  unpleas- 
antly. It  was  not  a  home  for  Arthur;  it  was  an 
establishment  for  social  functions,  and  a  burden 
of  expense;  yet  Danvers  knew  it  was  the  goal  of 
Arthur's  thoughts,  where  his  little  son  awaited 
him  at  the  close  of  the  day. 

Danvers  rang  the  bell,  not  a  moment  too 
early;  nevertheless  he  found  the  Western  men 
standing  self-conscious  and  ill  at  ease,  waiting 
for  the  announcement  of  dinner.  Arthur  greeted 
him  warmly,  and  Eva  sparkled,  smiled  and 
chatted,  moving  among  her  guests  and  tactfully 
putting  each  at  his  best,  while  they  waited  for  the 
last  arrival — a  Miss  Blair,  who  was  to  be,  so 
Philip  learned,  his  own  partner  at  dinner. 

Presently  the  tardy  one  arrived,  beautiful  in 
her  serene,  straightforward  gaze  from  under  fine 


CHARLIE  BLAIR'S  SISTER 127 

brows  and  a  wealth  of  dark  hair  that  caught 
threads  of  light  even  under  the  gas-jets,  and  made 
hurriedly  breathless  excuses  to  her  hostess.  Dan- 
vers  was  introduced  to  her  immediately,  and  the 
dining-room  was  invaded. 

"So  awkward  of  me,"  she  explained  in  an  un- 
dertone. "I  turned  my  ankle  as  I  came  across 
the  lawn,  and  had  to  wait  quite  a  bit  before  I 
could  move.  I  was  afraid  at  first  I  couldn't  come 
to  dinner,  but  I  hated  to  disappoint  Eva.  Little 
Arthur  must  have  left  his  hoop  on  the  lawn,  and 
I  tripped  on  it.  We  live  in  the  next  house,  and 
always  come  across  lots.  Doesn't  that  sound 
New  England-y?"  She  laughed  softly.  "My 
brother  says  I'll  never  drop  our  Yankee  phrases. 
I  say  pail  for  bucket,  and  path  for  trail,  and  the 
other  day  I  said  farm  for  ranch." 

"Your  voice  has  more  of  Old  England  than 
of  New  England,"  said  Danvers,  appreciatively. 
He  had  not  spoken  before  except  to  acknowledge 
Mrs.  Latimer's  hurried  introduction. 

"Oh,  thank  you !"  Miss  Blair  smiled,  frankly 
pleased.  "Not  that  I'm  a  bit  of  an  Anglo- 
maniac,"  she  hastened  to  affirm,  "but,  do  you 
know,"  she  leaned  toward  Danvers  in  an  amus- 
ingly confidential  way,  "I've  always  felt  morti- 
fied over  my  throaty  voice — that  is,  I  used  to  be." 

Philip  smiled,  a  smile  that  but  few  had  ever 
seen.  He  listened  with  enjoyment.  Something 


128 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

in  his  companion's  tacit  belief  that  he  would  un- 
derstand her  feeling  was  wonderfully  pleasing. 
He  seemed  taken  into  her  confidence  at  once  as 
being  worthy,  and  it  did  not  lessen  his  pleas- 
ure to  observe  that  the  Honorable  William 
Moore,  who  sat  at  the  left  of  Miss  Blair,  re- 
ceived only  the  most  formal  recognition,  despite 
his  effort  at  conversation,  to  the  neglect  of  his 
own  dinner  partner. 

Wit  and  merriment  flashed  from  one  to  an- 
other, and  all  but  the  host  seemed  overflowing 
with  animation.  Although  Latimer  looked  after 
the  needs  of  his  guests,  he  was  often  preoc- 
cupied. 

"Why  so  silent,  judge?"  asked  the  doctor  in 
a  lull  of  conversation. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  Arthur  apologized.  "I 
fear  I  was  rude.  Perhaps  I  was  trying  to  work 
out  the  salvation  of  my  country — from  my  own 
point  of  view." 

"Planning  for  re-nomination?"  asked  Moore, 
innocently. 

"And  your  ankle?"  asked  Danvers  of  Miss 
Blair,  under  cover  of  the  laugh  that  followed 
Moore's  attempt  at  wit.  "I  hope  that  you  are 
not  suffering  from  it."  His  observant  eye  had 
noted  the  smooth  contour  of  the  girl's  face,  but 
as  the  moments  passed  the  natural  lack  of  high 
coloring  seemed  to  grow  more  colorless. 


CHARLIE  BLAIR'S  SISTER 129 

"It  hurts — a  little,"  confessed  the  girl.  "But 
it  is  of  no  consequence.  Mrs.  Latimer's  dinner 
must  not  be  marred  by  my  blundering  in  the 
dark.  I  should  have  come  by  the  walk." 

"You  are  thoughtful."  Danvers  looked  again 
at  the  girl,  and  wished  for  the  first  time  that  he 
could  use  the  small  talk  of  society.  Politics  was 
debarred  from  the  table  conversation,  but  when 
they  were  again  in  the  parlors  Miss  Blair  turned 
to  Danvers. 

"Aren't  you  the  senator  from  Chouteau?" 

"Not  yet,"  smiled  Philip. 

"Oh,  but  you  will  be.     My  brother  says  so." 

"I'm  glad  some  one  is  optimistic.  I'm  afraid 
I  shall  not  be  the  deciding  party." 

"Who  will  be  our  United  States  senator?" 

"That  is  hard  to  tell.  So  many  straws  stick- 
ing out  of  the  tangle  make  it  difficult  to  prophesy 
which  will  be  pulled  out." 

"Your  party  is  so  split  up  this  year,"  said  the 
girl.  "Which  wing  are  you  affiliated  with?" 

This  was  not  "small  talk,"  as  Danvers  recog- 
nized with  an  amused  feeling  that  he  had  not 
expected  a  lady  to  know  anything  outside  his  pre- 
conceived idea  of  feminine  chat. 

"Montana  politics  have  no  wings,"  he  quibbled. 

Miss  Blair  laughed.  "Really,  haven't  you  de- 
cided which  of  the  candidates  you'll  support  for 
United  States  senator?"  She  ran  over  the  names. 


130 


"That's  rather  a  leading  question,  isn't  it?" 
evaded  Philip.  "If  a  man  asked  me,  I'd  give 
him  no  satisfaction.  I  will  say  to  you,  though, 
that  I  am  going  to  do  my  best  to  send  some 
one  to  Washington  who  is  pledged  to  place  com- 
munity interests  before  his  own." 

"I  did  not  mean  to  ask  impertinent  questions, 
or  to  cross-examine,"  quavered  Miss  Blair.  "One 
who  finds  out  anything  from  you  must  have  taken 
his  thirty-third  degree  in  Masonry.  I  am  not  try- 
ing my  hand  at  lobbying,"  she  added  as  an  after- 
thought. "You  mustn't  think  that.  I'm  just  in- 
terested in  the  political  situation.  And  brother 
Charlie  won't  talk  politics  with  me  any  more 
than  he'll  recount  his  experiences  as  a  freighter." 

"Charlie?  Brother  Charlie?"  A  dim  mem- 
ory revived.  "I  beg  your  pardon!  Is  Scar 
Faced  Charlie  your  brother?" 

"Yes.     Didn't  you  know?" 

"Then  you  are  the  little  girl " 

"Winifred.  I  thought  you  didn't  recognize 
me,  though  I  knew  you  at  once.  But  you  would 
scarcely  remember  me,  while  I — you  know  you 
saved  my  life." 

"And  to  think  that  you  have  so  changed — 
grown  up !  And  that  you  are  here  !  I  remember 
asking  for  you  when  Charlie  was  in  Fort  Ben- 
ton,  shortly  after  I  went  there  to  live;  but  you 
were  away  at  school.  I  don't  recall  ever  hearing 


CHARLIE  BLAIR'S  SISTER ijj_ 

your  brother  called  Blair,  though  as  a  matter  of 
fact  I  wasn't  thinking  of  your  name.  I  was  think- 
ing of  you!" 

"What  a  pretty  speech!  And  Mrs.  Latimer  is 
always  telling  what  a  woman-hater  you  are!" 

"I  was  not  aware  that  I  was  of  enough  im- 
portance to  be  the  subject  of  Mrs.  Larimer's 
strictures,"  replied  Danvers,  his  brow  contracting. 
"But  I  believe  I  do  have  that  reputation,"  he 
added,  and  smiled  into  her  unbelieving  brown 
eyes. 

"Moore  is  not  running  for  office  this  year," 
said  Danvers  presently,  finding  it  easier  to  talk 
of  matters  politic. 

"No.  Charlie  wants  a  place  in  the  Senate — 
perhaps  you  know."  She  changed  the  subject  by 
asking,  "Do  you  think  that  a  man  should  ever 
vote  for  a  candidate  not  in  his  own  party?" 

"If  he  votes  for  the  better  man — especially  in 
local  politics — yes.  Is  it  a  political  crime  in  your 
eyes?" 

"I  believe  most  politicians  think  so."  Miss 
Blair  also  resorted  to  evasion. 

They  were  joined  by  other  guests,  and  the  con- 
versation became  general.  The  Honorable  Mr. 
Moore,  resplendent  in  a  new  dress  suit,  was  say- 
ing pleasant  things  to  his  hostess. 

"What  a  lucky  dog  the  judge  is,  my  dear  Mrs. 
Latimer!  You  would  carry  off  any  situation. 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

You  deserve  a  wider  field  than  this  small  West- 
ern city." 

"Really?"  cooed  the  flattered  lady. 

As  she  moved  away,  Moore's  glance  followed 
her,  and  a  look  of  sudden  inspiration  illumined 
his  shiny  face.  Wild  Cat  Bill,  with  his  rotund 
form,  resembled  a  domesticated  house  cat  far 
more  than  the  agile  creature  which  had  given  him 
his  frontier  title.  The  incongruity  struck  Dan- 
vers,  and  he  smiled  at  Winifred  Blair  as  she 
drifted  to  another  part  of  the  room — a  smile  that 
she  returned  with  a  friendly  nod  of  farewell.  He 
did  not  see  her  again  that  evening,  and  not  long 
afterward  he  and  the  doctor  bade  their  hostess 
good-night. 

"Not  sorry  you  went,  are  you,  Phil?"  asked 
the  doctor,  as  they  walked  to  their  hotel.  "Good- 
ness knows,  Arthur  and  I  labored  hard  enough 
to  get  you  there." 

"I  have  always  disliked  dinner  parties."  The 
observant  doctor  noticed  the  wording  of  the  re- 
ply and  drew  his  own  conclusions. 

"Come  in  and  have  a  smoke  with  me,"  said 
the  doctor,  as  they  reached  his  room,  and  he  bent 
over  to  insert  the  key.  For  years  it  had  been 
Danvers'  habit  to  drop  into  the  physician's  office 
during  the  late  afternoon  or  evening,  to  talk  or 
smoke  in  silence,  as  the  case  may  be.  To-night 


CHARLIE  BLAIR'S  SISTER 


he  followed  the  doctor,  and  sat  down  for  a  half- 
hour's  chat. 

"That  was  a  fetching  gown  that  Mrs.  Latimer 
wore;  I  don't  envy  Arthur  the  bills!"  remarked 
the  astute  doctor,  as  he  filled  his  pipe. 

"I  didn't  notice,"  was  Philip's  indifferent  re- 
ply. "I  never  know  what  women  have  on." 

"And  how  lovely  Miss  Blair  looked  in  blue!" 

"Soft  rose!"  came  the  correction  from  the  man 
who  never  noticed. 

The  doctor's  mouth  twitched,  but  he  smoked 
on  in  silence,  and  when  he  bade  Philip  good-night 
he  gave  him  a  God-bless-you  pat  on  the  shoulder, 
which  the  coming  senator  from  Chouteau  inter- 
preted solely  as  due  to  his  long  friendship. 

Danvers  was  wakeful  that  night,  and  a  name 
sang  through  his  drowsy  brain  until  he  roused, 
impatient. 

"It  was  only  her  voice  that  interested  me!" 
he  exclaimed  aloud.  "She's  probably  like  the  rest 
of  them."  The  nettle  of  one  woman's  fickleness 
had  stung  so  deeply  when  he  first  took  to  the 
primrose  path  of  love  that  he  had  never  gone 
farther  along  the  road  leading  to  the  solving  of 
life's  enigma,  and  now  the  overgrowth  of  other 
interests  had  almost  obliterated  the  trail. 

Although  the  days  at  Helena  were  busy  ones 
for  Philip  Danvers,  he  found  time  before  the 
convention  to  make  his  dinner  call  at  the  Lati- 


i34 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

mer's.  On  the  shaded  lawn  before  the  house  he 
found  Miss  Blair  entertaining  little  Arthur  while 
she  kept  watch  over  the  baby  asleep  in  its  car- 
riage. 

"Mrs.  Latimer  is  away  for  the  afternoon.  She 
will  be  sorry  to  have  missed  you,"  exclaimed  the 
girl,  as  Arthur  ran  to  greet  the  visitor,  always  a 
favorite. 

"You  called  on  Aunt  Winnie  and  me !  Didn't 
you?  Didn't  you?"  chanted  the  boy,  tugging  at 
the  hand  of  the  visitor. 

"May  I  stay?"  asked  Danvers,  smiling  at  the 
eager  little  man.  "And  how  is  the  sprain?" 

"Of  course  you  may,"  assented  Winifred 
brightly.  "And  as  for  the  sprained  ankle,  wicked 
and  deceitful  creature  that  I  am,  I  made  it  the 
excuse  for  not  going  with  Mrs.  Latimer.  Good 
people,  really  good  people,  would  think  that  I 
merited  punishment  for  not  doing  my  duty  in 
my  small  sphere  of  life.  Yet  see!  Instead  of 
that  I'm  rewarded — here  you  come  to  entertain 
Arthur  and  me!" 

"It  is  a  bad  example!"  decided  Danvers,  with 
a  stern  eye  that  did  not  deceive  anyone.  He  was 
amused  at  her  naivete,  and  had  no  wish  to  decry 
such  open  good-will. 

"But  I  do  limp!  Don't  I,  Arthur?"  Miss 
Blair  appealed  to  the  child,  gravely. 

He  nodded  and  stooped  to  examine  the  low, 


135 


narrow  shoe,  peeping  from  her  sheer  summer 
gown.  Winifred  pulled  the  foot  back  with  a 
sudden  flush.  "I  am,  perhaps,  helping  along  in 
this  world  as  much  as  though  I  were  playing 
cards,  by  staying  with  the  children  instead  of  their 
being  with  the  maid,"  she  said  hastily. 

Philip  leaned  over  to  look  at  the  baby.  Ar- 
thur pulled  the  parasol  to  one  side  proudly. 

"Her  name  is  Winifred,"  he  announced. 

"I  believe  I  never  saw  a  really  little  baby  be- 
fore," said  Danvers,  looking  with  awe  at  the  tiny 
sleeper.  "My  sister  and  I  were  near  of  an  age; 
we  grew  up  together.  How  little  babies  are !" 

Miss  Blair  laughed.  "Winifred  is  a  very  nice 
baby — big  for  her  few  months  of  life.  I'm  very 
proud  to  be  her  godmother."  Danvers  watched 
as  she  pulled  the  fleecy  covering  around  the  sleep- 
ing child.  With  the  act  a  maternal  look  came 
into  her  lovely  face,  unconscious  as  she  was  of 
scrutiny,  and  a  thrill  of  manhood  shook  him 
deeply. 

"So  you  did  not  care  for  the  party?"  inquired 
the  caller,  presently.  "I  thought  all  ladies  adored 
card  parties  and  enjoyed  fighting  for  the  prizes." 

"Play  cards  when  the  mountains  look  like 
that?"  Winifred  rejoined.  "It  would  be  a  sac- 
rilege!" 

"I  do  not  care  for  cards  myself,"  agreed  Dan- 
vers. 


136 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Wouldn't  you  like  to  be  out  there?"  Wini- 
fred seemed  scarcely  to  have  heard  him. 

Following  the  direction  of  her  gaze,  he 
thought  her  wide-flung  gesture  a  deserved  tribute 
to  the  view.  The  Prickly  Pear  Valley  lay  be- 
fore them,  checkered  in  vivid  green  or  sage-drab 
as  water  had  been  given  or  withheld.  The 
Scratch  Gravel  Hills  jutted  impertinently  into  the 
middle  distance;  while  on  the  far  western  side 
of  the  plain  the  Jefferson  Range  rose,  tier  on  tier, 
the  distances  shading  the  climbing  foothills,  until 
the  Bear's  Tooth,  a  prominent,  jagged  peak,  cleft 
the  azure  sky.  A  stretch  of  darker  blue  showed 
where  the  Missouri  River,  itself  unseen,  broke 
through  the  Gate  of  the  Mountains.  The  view 
took  one  away  from  the  affairs  of  men.  On  their 
side  of  the  valley  towered  Mount  Helena  and 
Mount  Ascension  with  auriferous  gulches  sepa- 
rating and  leading  up  to  the  main  range  of  the 
Rockies.  As  the  foothills  sank  into  the  valley  the 
gulches,  washed  of  their  golden  treasure,  were 
transformed  into  the  streets  of  Helena — irregular, 
uneven,  unpaved  often;  in  the  residence  part  of 
the  town  young  trees  ambitiously  spread  their 
slender  branches;  the  main  street  and  intersect- 
ing steeper  ones  were  bordered  with  business 
blocks  as  ambitious,  in  their  way,  as  the  trans- 
planted trees. 

"  'I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,'  ' 


CHARLIE  BLAIR'S  SISTER 137 

quoted  Winifred,  softly.  "What  a  singer  David 
was.  But  these  mountains  seem  worthy  of  the 
grand  old  psalms." 

"Yes,"  assented  Danvers,  simply;  and  he  liked 
her  better  on  this  second  meeting  than  he  had 
at  the  dinner  party — a  crucial  test  where  a  woman 
is  concerned. 

"I  never  weary  of  looking,"  she  breathed. 

"I  think — I  never  should,  either,"  he  declared, 
and  looked — at  her! 

Unconscious  of  his  gaze,  she  absently  jogged 
the  carriage  while  the  baby  slept,  and  Arthur, 
holding  Danvers'  hand,  waited  his  turn. 

"Mamma  hates  Helena,"  was  his  contribution. 

"Sh-h-h!"  warned  Winifred. 

"Then  if  I  can't  talk,  make  Uncle  Phil  show 
us  a  good  time."  The  lad  turned  appealing, 
beautiful  eyes  toward  Danvers,  so  like  his 
father's  that  Philip  drew  him  closer.  "Tell  us 
about  the  Crow  Indians  stealing  the  Blackfeet 
ponies."  This  was  a  favorite  story. 

"Not  to-day,  laddie,"  refused  Philip,  gently. 
"Miss  Blair  would  not " 

"Yes,  I  should,"  contradicted  Winifred. 

"Aunt  Winnie  will  just  love  to  hear  that 
story,"  affirmed  Arthur.  "/  do !  She  tells  me 
lots  of  stories.  She  was  telling  one  when  you 
came — the  one  I  like  the  best  of  all.  It  had  a 
be-u-ti-ful  trooper  in  it  who  rescued  her  from  a 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

water-y  grave !"  The  child's  recital  was  as  melo- 
dramatic as  his  words.  "He  held  her  just  so!" 
Arthur  illustrated  by  a  tight  clasp  of  the  em- 
barrassed girl.  "Now,  you  tell  one." 

Philip  saw  that  Winifred  had  a  real  interest 
in  the  old  days,  and  while  relieving  her  embar- 
rassment by  gratifying  the  little  story-teller,  he 
spoke  of  the  Whoop  Up  Country. 

Winifred  had  the  rare  gift  of  bringing  out  the 
best  in  people.  Danvers  needed  such  incentive; 
although  denying  it,  he  was  a  good  conversation- 
alist. Now  his  whole  being  responded  to  this 
clear-eyed,  pleasant-voiced  girl  who  sat  in  the 
low  rocker  beside  him.  She  would  understand. 
The  few  times  he  had  essayed  to  speak  to  others 
of  his  service  in  the  Mounted  Police,  he  had  met 
with  such  indifference  that  the  words  were  killed; 
and  with  the  exception  of  the  Doctor,  Danvers 
had  never  shared  his  experiences  with  any  one. 
To  the  women  he  had  met  in  Helena  and  Fort 
Benton  that  lonely  life  had  brought  a  shudder, 
and  to  the  men  unpleasant  reminiscences.  So  far 
as  his  associates  of  the  early  days  were  concerned 
it  was  a  closed  chapter. 

To  the  child  Winifred,  Danvers  had  been  a 
hero — handsome,  debonair;  to  the  woman  Wini- 
fred, he  found  himself  talking  as  easily  as  to  the 
little  girl  who  listened  years  before.  The  life  at 
Fort  Macleod  was  the  one  subject  that  would  win 


CHARLIE  BLAIR'S  SISTER 139 

Danvers  from  his  silence,  and  in  the  next  hour 
Miss  Blair  had  good  reason  to  think  that  she 
would  not  exchange  this  call  for  all  the  card  par- 
ties in  the  world. 

Presently  he  challenged,  "You  are  bored?" 

"I've  been  delightfully  entertained.  It  is  all 
fascinating  to  me.  Charlie  will  seldom  speak  of 
the  freighting  days,  and  I  remember  very  little 
of  Fort  Benton." 

"The  old  place  isn't  big  enough  for  most  of 
us.  The  Macleod  men  are  scattered,  too." 

"Have  you  ever  been  back?" 

"Never!  I  could  not  bear  to  see  the  country 
fenced  in,  the  old  cottonwood  barracks  replaced, 
the  railroad  screaming  in  the  silence,  and  Colonel 
Macleod  dead.  No,  I  shall  never  go  back." 

The  baby  awoke  and  diverted  them,  and 
soon  the  maid  came  for  both  children.  Half-way 
to  the  house  little  Arthur  ran  back. 

"I'm  going  to  be  a  Police  when  I  grow  up," 
he  announced.  "I  prayed  about  it  last  night.  I 
know  God'll  fix  it.  I  put  it  right  to  Him.  It  was 
peachy!" 

"Arthur  is  always  saying  the  drollest  things," 
remarked  Miss  Blair  as  the  child  ran  out  of  hear- 
ing distance.  "Yesterday  he  told  me  that  when 
he  went  fishing  with  his  papa  his  fish  wouldn't 
hook  on  tight." 

"I'm  afraid  he'll  find  the  same  difficulty  later 


1 4o A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

in  life,"  laughed  Philip,  and  rose  to  say  good- 
afternoon. 

"I  will  not  wait  longer  for  Mrs.  Latimer,  but 
leave  my  card,"  he  decided.  "The  doctor  will 
be  wondering  what  has  become  of  me." 

But  the  doctor  found  him  very  silent  over  his 
pipe  that  evening.  The  sight  of  Arthur  Latimer's 
little  son  had  wakened  the  old  longing,  the  in- 
born desire  of  every  Englishman  to  bestow  the 
ancestral  name  upon  the  heir  of  his  house.  Philip 
Danvers !  For  eight  generations  a  son  had  borne 
the  name.  Would  he  be  the  last  to  inherit  it  in 
this  far  country  that  had  come  to  be  his  own? 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


141 


Man  of  Two  Countries 


ON  the  Sunday  spent  in  Helena  the  doctor 
proposed  to  Danvers  that  they  give  over 
politics  and  call  at  the  Blairs.  "They 
won't  stand  on  formalities,  and  we  both  need  to 
get  our  minds  out  of  this  political  struggle.  I'll 
be  glad  when  I  can  go  home  to  Fort  Benton!" 

"Charlie  seems  to  be  doing  well  in  Helena," 
remarked  Philip,  as  they  approached  the  house 
next  Judge  Latimer's. 

"He's  up,  then  down.  He  isn't  much  of  a  busi- 
ness man,  and  hasn't  head  enough  to  keep  in  the 
swim.  He  worships  that  sister  of  his,  and  just 
now  he's  doing  pretty  well.  I  fancy  that  she 
knows  nothing  of  his  financial  standing." 

"I    imagine    Miss    Blair    knows    more    about 


142 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Charlie's  difficulties  than  either  you  or  he  give 
her  credit  for.  She  sees  more  than  she  tells." 

The  callers  found  brother  and  sister  on  the 
wide  porch,  and  after  the  greetings  and  a  half- 
hour  of  general  conversation,  Charlie  Blair  asked 
the  doctor  if  he  would  come  inside  and  give  a 
little  advice  on  a  private  matter. 

"Good,"  cried  Winifred.  "For  once  I'm  glad 
that  Charlie  can  think  of  nothing  but  business. 
Now  I  can  talk  to  Mr.  Danvers." 

"See  that  you  do !"  commanded  Philip.  "Yes- 
terday I  went  away  feeling  like  a  garrulous 
dame ;  it  is  your  turn  to-day." 

Winifred  affected  to  reflect.  "What  shall  be 
my  theme — art,  music,  literature  or  our  mutual 
friends?" 

"Tell  me  of  yourself." 

"As  a  subject  of  conversation,  that  would  be 
soon  exhausted.  Women,  you  know,  are  too  idle 
to  be  good;  too  conventional  to  be  bad." 

"Indeed!"  returned  the  cattleman,  catching 
her  mood.  "I  have  known  many  women  of  that 
description.  Pardon  me,  but  I  had  imagined  you 
were  a  different  type." 

"You  say  the  nicest  things!  I  feel  that  we 
are  going  to  be  very  good  friends." 

Danvers  bowed.  "Thank  you.  I  think  we 
are." 

She  returned  his  frank  gaze,  and  settled  her- 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 143 

self  comfortably  for  an  afternoon's  enjoyment. 

"Now  talk!"  she  in  turn  commanded,  with 
the  sweeping  imperialism  she  sometimes  mani- 
fested toward  a  chance  companion. 

"I  refuse.    It  is  your  turn." 

"How  you  like  to  put  on  the  mask  of  silence! 
Do  you  bolt  the  door  to  everyone  but  the  doctor 
and  Judge  Latimer?" 

"Thoughts  are  hard  things  to  express,  unless 
one  forgets  himself,  and  they  come  spontane- 
ously." 

"Go  ahead  and  forget  yourself,  then!" 

"You  are  inexorable,"  laughing.  "Your  de- 
mand makes  me  think  of  an  Indian  Council.  Of 
course,  you  know  that  when  they  meet  to  discuss 
problems,  they  sit  silent  for  hours.  The  avowed 
purpose  of  conferring  paralyzes  their  tongues,  ap- 
parently, as  you  have  paralyzed  mine.  If  I  ever 
had  an  idea  I  could  not  produce  it  now." 

"The  Quakers  have  a  prettier  custom.  They 
sit  in  silence  till  the  spirit  moves.  I  will  be  the 
spirit  that  moves  you;"  and  so  adroitly  did  she 
continue  that  unconsciously  the  man  spoke  of 
more  serious  things — his  likings,  his  beliefs. 

"Why  did  you  become  an  American?"  she 
asked  at  length,  the  question  that  had  often  puz- 
zled her. 

"My  mother  was  an  American."      His  voice 


144 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

took  a  note  of  tenderness  which  Winifred  remem- 
bered long.  "But  when  I  left  the  service  it  was 
with  no  thought  of  choosing  this  as  my  country. 
I  had  no  desire  to  return  to  England,  however, 
and  the  chances  for  business  seemed  greater  on 
this  side  of  the  line." 

The  girl's  deep  eyes  gazed  directly  into  his 
with  flattering  intentness. 

"And  so  the  years  slipped  by  until  I  found 
that  my  interests  were  all  here,  and  I  could  not 
leave,  even  if  I  had  cared  to.  Isn't  that  true, 
judge?"  he  remarked,  as  Arthur  Latimer  came 
across  the  lawn.  "You  wanted  to  make  a  voter 
of  me,  for  your  own  dark  purposes " 

"Philip  always  hits  the  bull's-eye,"  admitted 
the  judge,  interrupting  with  a  menacing  gesture 
of  affection  at  the  implication.  "You  would  not 
leave  the  State.  That's  just  it.  The  most  of  us 
came  into  the  Northwest,  as  we  thought,  to  make 
a  fortune  and  go  back  East  or  South  to  enjoy  it. 
But  whether  we  have  made  money  or  not,  we 
discovered  that  we  are  here  to  stay.  The  old  ties 
in  other  communities  are  gone.  Old  friends  are 
dead.  Old  memories  faded.  We  aren't  all  such 
enthusiasts  as  the  doctor,  who  lives  at  Fort  Ben- 
ton  for  sheer  love  of  the  place,  but " 

"I  know  just  how  he  feels,"  cried  Winifred, 
quick  to  defend  her  old  friend.  "I  could  go  back 
there  myself  to  live.  We  have  a  love-feast  every 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 145 

time  we  speak  of  the  dear  old  town,  and  that's 
every  time  I  see  him." 

"I  think,"  said  Danvers,  slowly,  making  sure 
of  his  words,  "that  I  have  come  to  love  Montana 
more  than  my  native  land,  though  that  was  cer- 
tainly very  far  from  my  feeling  when  I  came  back 
to  Fort  Benton  as  a  civilian,  and  asked  for  work. 
I  told  the  man  that  I  was  an  Englishman,  but  I 
made  a  mistake.  There  was  a  long  list  of  appli- 
cants ahead  of  me — Americans — to  whom  prefer- 
ence would  be  given.  I  thanked  the  manager,  but 
from  that  day  I  determined  to  succeed  without 
being  forced  into  citizenship.  I  did  succeed,  and 
of  my  own  choice  I  became  an  American!" 

"Words,  words !  What  are  you  talking  about?" 
the  doctor  asked,  breezily,  as  he  appeared  with 
Blair.  "Let  us  into  your  charmed  circle.  I,  for 
one,  promise  to  be  silent.  Any  occasion  gains 
dignity  by  having  an  audience,  and  I'll  promise 
not  to  be  critical.  I  will  consider  your  youth." 

After  a  general  laugh,  the  judge  gave  the  trend 
of  the  conversation,  and  the  doctor  quite  forgot 
his  promise.  The  discussion  of  good  citizenship 
became  general,  and  presently  Philip  was  ap- 
pealed to  for  testimony  on  the  subject  of  foreign- 
ers becoming  naturalized. 

"I  hardly  think  I  can  tell  you  much  that  you 
do  not  already  know,"  he  said,  "concerning  Eng- 
lishmen becoming  American  citizens.  We  must 


146 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

give  the  inhabitants  of  every  great  European 
country  the  credit  for  believing  their  own  country 
to  be  the  greatest.  With  the  possible  exception 
of  Russia  and  Turkey,  I  am  inclined  to  the  opin- 
ion that  they  think  their  liberty  is  not  infringed 
upon,  any  more  than  it  should  be;  and  they  are, 
I  suppose,  contented  with  their  lot.  John  Bull 
has  every  reason  to  think  himself  a  favored  being. 
He  is  proud  of  the  institutions  of  his  country — 
royalty,  aristocracy.  The  knight,  the  'squire,  the 
merchant,  manufacturer,  skilled  workman  and 
laborer — each  has  his  place.  The  laborer,  cap  in 
hand,  bows  to  his  master.  So,  too,  aristocracy 
bends  the  knee  to  royalty — being  taught  to  keep 
allotted  rank  in  society,  and  to  defer  to  those 
above.  What  is  more,  all  have  a  supreme  regard 
for  the  law  itself,  as  well  as  for  those  who  ad- 
minister it." 

Winifred  listened.  Her  bright,  upturned  face 
was  an  incentive  for  Danvers  to  continue. 

"When  we  Englishmen  come  to  this  country," 
he  said,  "knowing  but  little  of  the  government, 
we  care  nothing  for  it.  We  generally  come  to 
better  our  condition  financially,  not  politically. 
When  we  see  the  actions  of  political  heelers  at 
elections  we  are  often  astounded.  We  hear  of 
Tweed,  of  Tammany,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
we  have  a  certain  contempt  for  American  poli- 
tics. If  we  watch  very  closely  we  see  men  elected 


147 


to  office  who  are  entirely  incompetent,  and  we 
even  have  suspicions  of  their  honesty." 

The  girl  laughed  lightly. 

"You  choose  to  be  very  sarcastic,"  she  com- 
mented. But  Danvers  had  more  to  say. 

"As  time  goes  on  we  watch  events,  comparing 
the  government  of  this  country  with  that  of  our 
own.  Little  by  little  we  are  brought  to  feel  that 
these  States  are  being  fairly  well  governed,  after 
all.  In  my  own  case,  when  Judge  Latimer  asked 
me  to  take  an  active  part  in  politics,  I  hesitated. 
But  I  had  cast  my  lot  in  Fort  Benton,  and  it 
seemed  wrong  to  accept  all  that  America  had  to 
give  with  no  return  from  myself." 

The  Anglo-American  looked  around  his  circle 
of  friends.  Never  before  had  he  expressed  him- 
self so  fully.  He  could  not  understand  how  he 
had  been  beguiled.  But  never  before  had  he  felt 
that  a  woman's  brain  would  grasp  every  reason 
adduced,  and  understand — that  was  it;  he  felt 
that  he  was  understood! 

"Montana  politics  are  like  an  Englishman's 
game — high.  They  smell  to  heaven,"  said  Char- 
lie Blair,  after  the  men  had  further  discussed  the 
political  situation. 

"I  don't  believe  that  Montana  is  any  worse 
than  many  other  States,"  defended  Winifred, 
quickly. 

"We   are  building  history,"   said  the   doctor, 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

dreamily,  "and  history  repeats  itself.  As  the 
powerful  nobles  of  Greece  and  Rome  dictated 
harsh  terms  to  the  common  people  and  ruined 
their  nations,  so  it  will  be  with  us.  Machine  poli- 
tics, money  and  whiskey,  millionaires  and  monop- 
olies— truly  the  outlook  is  depressing." 

"You  are  not  usually  so  pessimistic,  doctor,"  re- 
proached Winifred. 

"Well" — Blair's  contented  philosophy  was  re- 
freshing— "politicians  seldom  get  more  than  one- 
fourth  their  money's  worth,  when  they  use  it 
unlawfully.  Three-quarters  of  it  is  wasted  by 
giving  it  to  hangers-on." 

"Public  men  should  be  unhampered  by  de- 
mands for  spoils." 

"They  invite  the  demands,  Phil,"  replied  the 
doctor,  dryly.  "If  it  were  not  openly  known  that 
a  man  could  get  a  position  as  a  corporation  law- 
yer, or  timekeeper  in  a  big  mine,  or  some  other 
inducement,  do  you  think  any  would-be  senator, 
for  instance,  would  be  troubled  by  distributing 
'spoils  of  office'?" 

"He  would  not  be  troubled  with  superfluous 
votes,  either,"  remarked  the  judge,  caustically. 

"Oh,"  cried  Winifred,  with  a  vision  of  what 
might  be,  "if  only  the  candidates  and  the  voters 
could  be  brought  to  see  that  public  office  is  a  pub- 
lic trust;  that  the  honor  of  election  is  enough!" 

"That  is  the  way  it  is  in  England,"  answered 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 149 

Danvers.  "There,  for  instance,  a  man  is  elected 
to  a  city  council  for  his  personal  fitness  and  ability 
to  hold  office.  No  questioning  of  his  political 
affiliations.  No  perquisites — no  privileges.  Only 
the  honor  of  his  fellow  citizens,  which  is  enough. 
It  is  the  same  in  other  positions,  even  in  Parlia- 
ment." 

"Here  comes  Mrs.  Latimer."  Miss  Blair  rose 
and  advanced  to  meet  her  friend.  "I  see  by  your 
eyes,  Eva,"  she  said  gaily,  "that  I  have  to  placate 
you  for  monopolizing  all  the  men  in  sight." 

Mrs.  Latimer  laughed,  and  the  circle  widened 
to  admit  her. 

"You  are  talking  of  politics,"  she  accused, 
lazily.  "Either  that  or  of  Fort  Macleod." 

"Madam,"  the  doctor  affected  remorse,  "we 
were  talking  of  politics.  But  when  you  burst 
upon  our  enchanted  vision,  as  beautiful  as  when 
you  dazzled  us  sixteen " 

"Oh,  don't!"  shuddered  Eva.  "Why— why 
will  men  be  so  exact  as  to  dates?  Why  not  say 
'some  years  ago'?"  She  looked  around  rebel- 
liously.  "I  will  not  grow  old,  even  if  you,  dear 
doctor,  have  silvery  hair,  and  Arthur's  is  grow- 
ing thin,  and  Mr.  Blair — well,  I'll  admit  the  years 
have  dealt  kindly  with  Charlie  and  Mr.  Danvers." 

"And  with  you,  dear,"  added  her  husband, 
loyally. 

"How  do  you  like  my  gown?"  asked  Eva,  turn- 


i5Q A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

ing  to  Miss  Blair  as  the  men  began  to  talk  of 
other  subjects. 

"It's  lovely!  You  are  so  artistic!  It  must 
please  your  husband  to  have  you  so  perfectly 
gowned." 

"Oh,  Arthur — as  for  one's  husband,  I  simply 
can't  imagine  dressing  for  one  man." 

"I  can,"  breathed  the  girl,  her  thoughts  afield. 
But  the  sentiment  was  lost  upon  Eva. 

"If  I  lived  nine  miles  from  nowhere  I  would 
dress  and  walk  among  the  cow  corrals  or  on  the 
range  for  the  cowboys — if  there  were  no  other 
men  to  admire  me!" 

"You  say  such  dreadful  things,"  Winifred  an- 
swered, gently,  "but  I  know  you  do  not  mean 
them." 

"But  I  do!"  wilfully. 

"I  have  grown  away  from  the  East,"  the  doc- 
tor was  saying,  when  the  ladies  again  listened. 
"I  want  more  room  than  the  crowded  cities  can 
give. 

'  'Room,  room  to  turn  'round  in, 
To  breathe  and  be  free.' 

"I  fancy  the  Puritans  wanted  physical  as  well 
as  religious  freedom,  if  the  truth  were  known." 
He  mused;  then  suddenly: 

"How  can  you  make  one  who  has  never  ex- 
perienced it  feel  the  West?" 

"You  can't,"  laughed  Latimer.     "I  tried  once, 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES ij± 

but  my  companion  looked  bored,  and  I  stopped. 
'Oh,  go  on/  he  said,  politely;  'you  are  inter- 
ested!'" 

When  the  merriment  had  subsided,  Eva  ex- 
claimed : 

"I'm  sick  and  tired  of  the  West!  I  want  to 
live  in  New  York,  Washington,  abroad — any- 
where but  Montana!" 

"I  wish  that  we  might,  dear,"  said  the  judge, 
patiently;  "perhaps  we  can  some  day." 

"By  the  way,"  remarked  Eva,  her  thoughts 
flying  inconsequently  to  another  subject,  "I've 
promised  to  read  a  paper  on  'The  Judiciary  of 
Montana'  before  our  club  to-morrow.  Tell  me 
all  about  it,  Arthur,  and  I'll  write  the  essay  this 
evening."  She  looked  at  the  group  in  surprise. 
What  had  she  said  to  raise  such  shouts? 

As  soon  as  her  husband  could  speak  he  wiped 
his  eyes. 

"It's  a  pretty  big  subject  for  me  to  discuss 
now,"  he  said;  "but  I'll  write  something.  That 
will  be  better  than  confusing  your  mind  with  it. 
These  club-women,"  he  went  on  indulgently,  ad- 
dressing the  others,  "are  so  fervid — so  much  in 
earnest." 

"Are  you  a  club-woman,  too?"  the  doctor 
asked  Winifred,  and  Danvers  waited  her  reply. 

"I  used  to  be,"  dolefully.  "But  I  am  a  rene- 
gade, or  a  degenerate.  I  was  allowed  to  join  the 


152 


classic  circle  of  a  Dante  Club,  and  for  two  years 
we  (perhaps  I'd  better  say  I)  agonized  over  the 
prescribed  study — the  course  was  sent  out  by  the 
university.  But  when  the  third  year  arrived  I 
wearied  of  well-doing.  I  was  horrid,  I  know; 
but  the  subject  was  remote  as  to  time,  and  dead  as 
to  issues.  I  like  live  topics,  real  issues — Montana 
politics,  for  instance." 

"You  might  have  joined  the  Current  Events 
Club,"  reproached  Mrs.  Latimer.  "To  be  sure, 
it's  sometimes  hard  to  find  topics  for  the  next 
meeting,  but  we  get  along.  Club  work  broadens 
our  minds  and  widens  our  sphere,"  she  concluded, 
with  a  pretty  air  of  triumph. 

"And  when  topics  fail — to  write  about,"  put 
in  Blair,  "you  can  talk.  You  ladies  always  find 
enough  to  talk  about!" 

"Why,  Charlie  Blair!  You're  just  as  horrid 
as  you  used  to  be!"  responded  Eva,  hotly. 

"Didn't  I  hear  something  about  one  lady's 
stabbing  to  death  another  lady's  imported  hat, 
just  on  account  of  too  much  talk  at  one  of  the 
club  meetings?"  Blair  was  persistent. 

"That  story  about  the  hat  has  been  grossly 
exaggerated!  It  is  nothing  but  gossip." 

"  'Current  Events,'  too,"  murmured  Charlie, 
properly  deprecatory. 

Not  long  afterwards  Danvers  made  the  first 
move  toward  breaking  up  the  group. 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 153 

"Must  you  be  going?"  Winifred  rose  also. 
"I  suppose  I  shall  not  see  you  again  before  the 
Assembly  meets.  You'll  be  sure  to  be  here  then, 
as  senator  from  Chouteau." 

"Thank  you  for  your  optimism.     May  I  call?" 

"Certainly.  I  should  feel  hurt  if  you  didn't. 
We  are  friends  of  many  years'  standing,  you 
know." 

Never  before  had  he  asked  to  call  upon  a  lady. 
The  importunity  had  always  been  on  the  other 
side. 

Late  in  the  evening  the  doctor  came  to  Dan- 
vers'  room  for  the  good-night  call;  but  the  talk 
was  wholly  of  Judge  Latimer's  interests. 

"I'm  afraid  that  Arthur  will  have  a  hard  pull," 
regretted  the  old  friend,  "but  we  will  do  all  we 
can  for  him.  I've  had  a  telegram  calling  me  back 
to  Fort  Benton,  and  must  leave  on  the  midnight 
train." 

Danvers  walked  to  the  little  depot,  a  mile  from 
the  city  proper,  with  his  friend,  and  after  the 
train  pulled  out  he  again  thought  of  Winifred. 

As  he  passed,  on  his  way  back  to  town,  the 
huge  piles  of  loose  rock  that  the  miners  had  left 
in  their  sluicing  for  gold  in  bygone  days,  his 
thoughts  followed  the  girl  back  into  the  long 
years  since  he  had  first  met  her  on  the  Far  West 
— a  child  eager  for  sympathy.  It  was  odd  that 
he  had  never  seen  her  in  all  that  time — the  years 


i54 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

when  he  had  unconsciously  longed  for  friendship, 
and  the  sight  of  a  woman's  face — a  white  face. 
The  rings  from  his  cigar  melted  around  him, 
softening  his  face  until  it  took  on  the  boyish  fair- 
ness of  youth. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION        155 


C  n  a  « t  e  ±» 

-ike  State  Republican  Convention^ 


THE  evening  before  the  convention  found 
Judge  Latimer  at  the  club  in  conference 
with  his  friends.  His  nomination  seemed 
doubtful,  yet  there  was  a  possibility  that  he  might 
win,  and  Danvers  was  working  hard  and  hope- 
fully. 

The  Honorable  William  Moore  had  arrived 
from  Butte  that  day,  and  as  he  greeted  various 
members  of  the  club,  watched  for  a  chance  to 
approach  Judge  Latimer. 

"What  are  the  prospects?"  he  inquired,  after 
a  chat  on  politics  in  general.  "I  calculate  you'll 
need  the  support  of  Silver  Bow  County,  and  we'd 
like  to  help  you  out." 

"Of  course,  I  shall  be  glad  of  your  support," 


156 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

responded  Latimer,  who  knew  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  win  without  this  important  section  of 
Montana. 

"Very  well.  What  can  you  do  for  us — that  is, 
for  Burroughs?" 

The  judge  moved  uneasily.  "It  doesn't  seem 
to  me  that  I  can  do  very  much  for  a  man  who 
has  practically  the  whole  State  at  his  command." 

"You  know  what  we  want!"  scowlingly. 

"I  shall  have  no  influence." 

"Bah!  What's  the  use  talking?  He'll  make 
it  worth  your  while.  Get  Danvers  to  vote  for 
Burroughs  when  it  comes  time  to  elect  United 
States  senator.  He  never  will  unless  you  can 
persuade  him.  You  know  his  feeling  toward 
Burroughs,  although  Bob's  been  a  good  husband 
and  father.  And  there's  Charlie  Blair,  get  him 
pledged  and  he'll  be  elected;  and " 

"Hold  on,  Moore!"  Latimer's  voice  trembled 
with  anger.  "Why  should  you  oppose  me? 
Haven't  my  decisions  always  been  just  and " 

"I'm  not  saying  anything  about  your  decisions," 
broke  in  Moore,  "although  it  would  have  paid 
you  to  be  amenable.  I  knew  the  time  would  come 
when  you'd  want  our  political  help." 

"I  don't  want  your  help!"  cried  the  judge,  pas- 
sionately. "If  I  should  be  elected  through  your 
instrumentality  I  should  feel  as  though  every  man 
in  the  State  believed  that  a  decision  handed  down 


THE  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION        157 

by  the  Supreme  Court  was  tainted  with  your 
money.  As  yet  the  Supreme  Court  of  Montana 
has  been  above  suspicion,  and  so  far  as  it  is  in 
my  power,  it  shall  remain  so !"  He  struck  out, 
his  slight  form  quivering  righteously. 

Across  the  room  Danvers  saw  him,  and  walked 
quickly  toward  the  men. 

"I  want  to  speak  to  you,  Arthur,"  he  said,  and 
drew  the  judge  into  the  street. 

"The  elephant  and  the  gazelle  are  trotting  to- 
gether," said  Latimer,  presently,  trying  to  be 
facetious  in  an  effort  to  regain  control  of  himself. 
He  looked  up  at  his  stalwart  companion. 

"Yes,  and  the  gazelle  is  always  looking  for 
trouble  when  the  elephant  is  around,  so  he  can 
be  pulled  out!"  returned  Danvers,  in  the  same 
strain;  yet  with  the  undercurrent  of  affection  that 
always  crept  into  his  tone  when  speaking  to  Lati- 
mer. 

Words  failed  the  harassed  judge  as  he  at- 
tempted to  reply.  This  friend  of  his!  This  dear 
friend! 

"It  is  just  as  I  thought,  Phil,"  he  remarked, 
after  they  had  walked  for  a  time  in  silence. 
"Burroughs  will  block  me." 

"That's  bad;  but  it  might  be  worse.  Let  me 
see.  Who  are  the  delegates  from  Silver  Bow?" 

"Bill  Moore  is  the  chairman.  No  need  to 
specify  the  individual  men,  for  every  one  of  them 


ijj A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

will  vote  as  instructed.  Oh,  Burroughs  has  that 
county  well  organized!" 

"H-m-m!"  mused  Danvers,  nodding  affirma- 
tion. "Silver  Bow  is  not  the  only  county,  and 
Moore  is  not  the  only  chairman.  I  am  chairman 
of  the  Chouteau  County  delegation,  and  we  are 
solid  for  you.  I  have  more  or  less  influence  in 
other  counties,"  modestly.  As  they  walked  they 
canvassed  the  situation.  Without  Silver  Bow  it 
did  look  dubious. 

Turning  a  corner  they  met  O'Dwyer,  ruddy 
and  smiling  as  ever. 

"Here's  O'Dwyer!"  cried  Danvers.  "He  is 
always  good  in  an  emergency.  His  fertile  brain 
will  contrive  some  method  of  procedure  that  will 
land  you  safely  on  the  bench  for  a  second  term." 

A  conference  ensued.  O'Dwyer  shook  his  head 
doubtfully  when  he  learned  of  Burroughs'  strong 
following,  but  said  nothing  until  the  three  were 
in  Danvers'  room. 

"I  heard  Wild  Cat  Bill  talking  to  yeh,"  he  ac- 
knowledged, "and  I  think  I've  got  something  up 
my  sleeve."  But  he  refused  to  disclose  his  plans, 
only  warning  Danvers  not  to  be  surprised  if  he 
was  late  to  the  convention,  and  they  separated. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order.  Campaign 
issues  did  not  appear  to  be  of  great  moment;  but 
when  the  chairman  announced  that  the  candidates 


THE  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION       159 

for  chief  justice  would  now  be  considered,  there 
suddenly  arose  so  much  controversy  and  ill-feeling 
that  the  meeting  was  adjourned  until  evening. 
An  active  canvass  was  begun  by  Danvers  for 
Judge  Latimer,  and  by  Moore  for  his  candidate. 
O'Dwyer  of  Chouteau  County,  seemingly  not  so 
much  interested  in  the  business  in  hand  as  in  look- 
ing up  old  friends  whom  he  had  known  at  Fort 
Macleod,  circulated  joyously  among  the  men.  It 
was  not  long  before  he  was  cheek  by  jowl  at  the 
hotel  bar  with  Wild  Cat  Bill  (Moore  never  ob- 
jected to  the  old  nickname),  and  after  sundry 
refreshments  and  their  accompanying  chasers,  he 
proposed  that  they  dine  together.  Mr.  Moore 
was  agreeable,  and  suggested  a  private  room  for 
the  meal,  being  under  the  impression  that 
O'Dwyer  would  look  favorably  on  an  effort  to 
turn  his  allegiance  from  Latimer's  candidacy. 

As  the  dinner  progressed  he  told  O'Dwyer  that 
he  had  in  mind  a  lucrative  position  which  Mr. 
Burroughs  would  gladly  bestow  on  an  old  friend, 
if  the  Irishman  saw  fit  to  accept.  Moore  care- 
fully explained,  as  the  glasses  were  filled  and 
emptied,  that  he  had  no  ulterior  motive.  Oh, 
certainly  not !  O'Dwyer  must  not  think  that  Bur- 
roughs ever  offered  a  bribe,  even  in  so  small  a 
matter  as  this  of  defeating  Judge  Latimer  in  state 
convention ! 

"Of  course   not!"   agreed  O'Dwyer,   and  sur- 


160 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

reptitiously  glanced  at  his  watch.  He  redoubled 
his  efforts  to  be  the  good  fellow,  and  apparently 
'  coincided  with  Moore's  views  on  politics. 

The  clock  in  the  court  house  struck  half  after 
-eight.  The  convention  was  called  to  order,  and 
Mrs.  Latimer,  thrilling  with  the  sense  of  un- 
known possibilities,  sat  in  the  crowded  gallery, 
and  settled  expectantly  to  the  excitement  of  the 
Balloting.  Strong  and  spicy  speeches  were  an- 
ticipated. Silver  Bow,  notoriously  the  hotbed  of 
political  agitation  in  the  State,  possessed  in  Mr. 
Moore  a  star  speaker.  He  always  had  some- 
thing to  say,  and  was  the  chief  factor  in  filling 
the  ladies'  gallery.  His  fiery  remarks  and  impas- 
sioned appeals  were  as  exhilarating  as  cocktails. 
Full  well  did  Mr.  Burroughs  know  the  value  of 
his  trusted  henchman,  both  in  caucus  and  on  the 
floor,  and  he  had  left  his  cause  against  Judge 
Latimer  wholly  in  Moore's  hands,  with  no  under- 
study. He  had  made  the  trip  over  from  Butte 
the  day  before,  and  now  expectantly  awaited  the 
appearance  of  the  Honorable  William. 

As  the  delegates  and  spectators  listened  to  the 
blaring  band  they  watched  the  rapidly  filling  seats 
and  noted  the  tall  staffs  and  placards  indicating 
the  various  counties.  Danvers  looked  in  vain  for 
Latimer;  Burroughs  for  Moore. 

O'Dwyer  had  not  appeared,  and  the  chairman 
of  the  Chouteau  County  delegation  smiled  as  he 


THE  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION       161 

thought  of  the  Irishman's  devotion  to  his  friends, 
and  the  possible  discomfiture  of  their  common 
enemy.  But  Latimer's  absence  was  disquieting. 
He  had  said  something  about  little  Arthur's  hav- 
ing a  cold,  but  surely  that  would  not  keep  him 
from  so  important  an  occasion. 

Nine  o'clock.  The  chairman  declared  the  con- 
vention ready  to  proceed.  Burroughs,  hovering 
near  the  doors  of  the  auditorium,  looked  anxious 
as  he  saw  Danvers  rise  to  make  his  nomination 
speech  for  Judge  Latimer.  Moore — the  invalu- 
able Moore — was  not  in  the  hall.  The  moments 
were  slipping  by,  and  Burroughs  hastily  dis- 
patched a  messenger  to  his  hotel  and  to  the  club. 

As  Danvers  gave  a  simple,  earnest  recital  of 
Judge  Latimer's  qualifications  and  the  need  for 
such  men  in  the  State  of  Montana,  he  saw  the 
judge  enter.  He  spoke  of  his  devotion  to  his 
family,  his  business  integrity,  his  high  ideals;  and 
ended  with  the  plea  that  in  this  day  of  corruption 
in  high  places,  his  own  State  preserve  her  prestige 
by  maintaining  in  office  one  who  had  been  found 
able  and  incorruptible  in  discharging  his  duties 
as  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of 
Montana. 

As  Danvers  returned  to  his  seat  he  was  met 
by  the  recalcitrant  Moore,  walking  carefully,  and 
blandly  indifferent  to  Burroughs'  angry  oath  with 
which  he  had  been  greeted  at  the  door. 


162 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Danvers  tried  to  avoid  the  wavering  path,  but 
the  Honorable  William  had  a  set  purpose  in  his 
muddled  brain.  He  fell  upon  the  neck  of  the 
delegate  from  Chouteau,  and  his  arms  met  around 
Danvers'  neck. 

"I  d'know  yer  name,"  he  hiccoughed,  enthusi- 
astically, "but  I  know  yeh're  a  gen'lmun."  The 
unexpected  followed.  Holding  himself  upright 
by  the  embarrassed  Danvers,  he  bellowed: 
"Mishter  Chairman!  I  seconsh  the  nomination!" 

Pandemonium  ensued — laughter  in  the  gal- 
leries, drowned  by  the  roar  of  disapproval  from 
Burroughs'  candidate  and  his  following.  O'Dwyer 
hastily  gained  the  recognition  of  the  chairman 
and  again  seconded  the  nomination  of  Latimer, 
and  the  balloting  began. 

Burroughs,  not  being  a  delegate,  had  no  place 
on  the  floor,  and  was  powerless.  The  leaderless 
flock  from  Silver  Bow  made  weak  efforts  to  as- 
sert themselves,  but  O'Dwyer  saw  to  it  that 
Moore  did  not  get  to  them  until  affairs  were  well 
settled.  The  first  ballot  was  taken,  and  Latimer 
had  a  majority.  He  had  received  the  nomina- 
tion! 

There  were  cheers  and  loud  calls  for  Latimer, 
and  he  responded  briefly.  In  the  excitement  Bur- 
roughs succeeded  in  enticing  the  torpid  Bill  into 
the  lobby,  and  so  effective  were  his  words,  em- 
phasized by  his  fists,  that  Moore  returned  to  the 


THE  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION       163 

hall  a  chastened  man,  and  demanded  that  the 
nomination  be  set  aside.  In  the  uproar  Bur- 
roughs ventured  onto  the  floor  and  yelled  to  the 
cheering  delegation  from  Chouteau  County, 
"Howl,  ye  hirelings!"  He  violently  accused  Dan- 
vers  of  collusion  with  O'Dwyer  in  detaining  Mr. 
Moore. 

O'Dwyer  was  in  no  mood  to  permit  this.  For 
years  he  had  idolized  the  Englishman.  In  a  mo- 
ment he  placed  himself  in  front  of  the  ex-trader, 
and  reaching,  grabbed  for  Burroughs'  nose. 

"Do  I  understand  yeh're  talkin'  agin  me  friend, 
Philip  Danvers?"  he  shouted,  with  a  twist  of  the 
olfactory  member.  "If  I  hear  anither  whimper 
out  of  yez,  I'll  smash  yeh  one !  I  got  Bill  Moore 
drunk — I!  Yeh  can  settle  wid  mesilf!" 

In  the  tumult  the  meeting  adjourned,  and  Dan- 
vers was  glad  to  get  out  of  the  hall  and  have  a 
word  with  his  friend. 

"Why  were  you  so  late,  Arthur?"  questioned 
Danvers,  as  soon  as  they  had  a  moment  together. 

"My  boy  is  not  well,"  Arthur  explained,  as  his 
eye  roved  anxiously  around  the  circling  balcony. 
"Eva  had  set  her  heart  on  hearing  the  nomina- 
tion speeches,  and  so  I  stayed  with  the  laddie 
until  the  last  minute.  I  couldn't  bear  to  leave  him 
alone  with  the  nurse-girl." 

"Let  me  go  for  a  doctor!"  begged  Danvers, 
anxious  to  be  of  some  help. 


1 64 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"No,  he  isn't  sick  enough  for  that — I  did  call 
a  physician  about  dinner  time.  Perhaps  I'm  fool- 
ish," he  smiled  wanly,  "but  if  anything  should 
happen " 

"Tut!  tut!"  Danvers  put  his  hand  on  the 
stooping  shoulders.  "I'm  going  home  on  the  mid- 
night train,  and  I'll  send  the  old  doctor  up  to  see 
the  lad;  or,"  with  a  sudden  thought,  "why  not 
wire  him?  I  will  do  it  as  I  go  to  the  station." 

"Perhaps  you'd  better,"  agreed  Latimer.  "I 
wish  he  had  remained  here  for  the  convention; 
but  I  know  he  will  be  glad  to  make  the  trip  for 
the  sake  of  the  boy,  and  the  sight  of  his  face  will 
do  me  good." 

"You've  been  working  too  hard.  Take  it  easy 
now  and  don't  worry,"  counseled  Danvers.  "I 
shall  be  up  again  in  a  few  weeks,  and  in  the  mean- 
time write  to  me,  Arthur." 

He  stood  a  moment  as  Judge  Latimer  waited 
for  Eva.  He  felt,  somehow,  that  his  friend 
needed  him.  But  his  train  would  soon  be  due, 
and  with  a  hearty  hand-clasp  he  said  good-night 
and  hurried  away  for  the  Fort  Benton  express. 


DESPAIR 


165 


THE  days  that  followed  the  convention  were 
like  a  dream  to  Danvers  when  he  remem- 
bered them  afterwards.     He  had  scarcely 
picked  up  the  old  life  at  Fort  Benton — looked 
over  his  cattle  and  gone  over  his  neglected  cor- 
respondence, when  a  telegram  from  the  old  doc- 
tor recalled  him  to  Helena. 

Arthur  Latimer's  tragedy  had  come,  and  Dan- 
vers, unfamiliar  with  death,  knew  no  words  of 
consolation  for  the  father  bereft  of  his  first- 
born. A  numbness  mercifully  comes  during  those 
first  hours,  which  makes  it  possible  to  move  about 
and  go  through  strange,  meaningless  ceremonies 
with  a  calm  that  surprises  those  who  have  not 
known  the  searing  touch  of  the  death  angel. 


1 66 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

A  few  days  later  he  and  the  doctor  were  back 
at  Fort  Benton  again,  and  life  moved  on  as  be- 
fore. Only  there  was  always  the  memory  of 
Latimer's  drawn  face  that  no  laddie's  voice  would 
lighten,  no  little  hand  caress. 

The  doctor  hoped  that  the  political  campaign 
would  occupy  his  thoughts  for  the  present,  but 
when  the  election  went  against  Latimer  he  shook 
his  head. 

"Read  this  letter,"  he  said  to  Danvers  one 
evening.  "It  came  to-day,  and  I  should  have  sent 
for  you  if  I  hadn't  felt  so  certain  you  would  drop 
in.  You're  the  one  to  go." 

It  was  a  letter  from  Winifred,  and  Danvers 
felt  a  peculiar  sensation  of  satisfaction  in  seeing 
her  handwriting,  as  if  it  gave  him  an  added  bond 
to  their  friendship. 

But  he  forgot  Winifred  in  his  anxiety  over  the 
message  her  letter  conveyed. 

"/  wish  that  you  or  Mr.  Danvers  could 
come  to  Helena"  she  wrote.  "Judge  Lari- 
mer is  so  changed  since  little  Arthur's  death 
that  we  sometimes  fear  for  his  reason. 
Since  the  election  has  gone  against  him  there 
is  no  direct  interest  to  take  his  attention  and 
he  has  sunk  into  a  deep  melancholy.  You 
could  rouse  him  as  no  one  else  could.  Please 
come — one  or  both  of  you." 


DESPAIR 167 

Danvers  read  no  further,  but  looked  up  to 
catch  the  doctor's  eye.  He  nodded.  "All  right, 
doctor.  I'll  go  to-night." 

His  heart  was  drawn  still  more  closely  to  the 
stricken  man.  He  longed  to  bring  back  to  that 
sad  face  the  smile  that  he  remembered  on  the 
Far  West,  when  Latimer's  buoyancy  had  been 
like  wine  to  his  lonely  heart.  He  felt  confident 
that  the  friendship  of  one  man  for  another  could 
reach  the  heart  of  his  friend,  now  closing  against 
all  human  sympathy. 

It  was  noon  before  Danvers  reached  Helena 
and  made  his  way  to  Judge  Latimer's  residence. 
He  was  startled  by  the  absence  of  life,  the  silence 
and  drawn  shades.  Turning,  he  saw  Miss  Blair 
entering  her  own  gate. 

"I'm  so  glad  you've  come !"  cried  the  girl,  with 
unaffected  pleasure,  as  he  hastened  towards  her. 
"But  didn't  you  know  that  the  Latimers  had  gone 
to  the  hotel  for  the  winter?" 

Danvers  had  not  known. 

"Come  in  and  have  lunch  with  Charlie  and 
me,"  she  urged;  "it  will  be  ready  in  just  a  minute. 
Charlie  will  be  here  soon  and  will  want  to  con- 
gratulate you  on  your  majority." 

"But    Arthur — I    feel    I   must   get    to    him." 

"Come  in  and  telephone.  He  has  opened  of- 
fices down  town  and  you  may  find  him  there.  I 


168 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

call  up  Eva  every  morning,  but  Judge  Latimer 
is  out  a  great  deal." 

While  she  was  speaking  Danvers  had  followed 
her  into  the  house.  It  was  a  homelike  room;  a 
canary's  trill  greeted  them,  and  a  glimpse  of  old- 
fashioned  plants  in  the  bay-window  wakened 
memories  of  English  homes.  How  different  it 
was  from  his  rooms  at  Fort  Benton! 

Winifred  smiled  brightly  as  she  made  him 
at  home,  and  excused  herself  for  a  moment. 

"And  how  is  Judge  Latimer?"  questioned  Dan- 
vers, as  she  reappeared  from  the  dining-room 
with  a  big  apron,  which  she  fastened  about  her 
waist  in  a  most  businesslike  manner. 

uHe  needs  cheering — needs  loving!  With  the 
old  routine  of  office  suddenly  lacking,  and  little 
Arthur  gone,  the  man  is  lost — aimless.  There 
seems  to  be  nothing  worth  while — nothing  to  keep 
him  with  us!  And  there  are  other  troubles — I 
don't  understand  them  myself,  but  you  will  know 
how  to  help  him.  I'm  so  glad  you  have  come!" 
she  repeated,  with  a  warmth  that  made  his  heart 
beat  faster.  What  would  it  be  like  to  find  such 
a  welcome  for  his  own  sake — and  every  night 
when  he  came  home! 

"Did  you  'phone  the  office?"  The  words  re- 
called him. 

"Yes.  He  is  down  in  the  valley;  the  clerk 
didn't  know  when  he  would  return." 


DESPAIR 169 

"We  won't  wait  for  Charlie.  He's  often  late, 
and  I  know  you  are  anxious  to  find  the  judge." 

After  a  few  minutes'  absence  Winifred  an- 
nounced that  luncheon  was  ready.  As  Philip  held 
the  curtains  for  her  to  precede  him  to  the  dining- 
room  he  looked  longingly  at  the  sweet-scented 
blossoms  in  the  window. 

"I  have  seen  nothing  more  delightful  in  years," 
he  explained.  "I  am  old-fashioned  enough  not  to 
care  for  palms  or  rubber  plants." 

"Another  bond  of  friendship,"  smiled  Wini- 
fred, lightly.  "Shall  I  make  the  salad  dressing, 
or  would  you  prefer  to  mix  it  yourself?"  she 
asked,  after  she  had  persuaded  him  to  take  the 
head  of  the  table. 

"I  make  a  dressing  that  is  the  despair  of  my 
friends,"  she  continued.  "So  I  make  them  shut 
their  eyes  when  I  mix  it,  else  my  one  accomplish- 
ment would  be  mine  no  longer." 

Philip  promised,  with  a  smile,  to  "play  fair." 
He  delighted  in  the  housewifely  nonsense,  and 
ate  the  salad,  though  he  hated  olive  oil.  "Salads 
are  a  woman's  folly,"  he  had  once  said.  But  he 
did  not  repeat  it. 

"How  do  you  like  it?"  Her  mood  suited  the 
visitor.  The  light  conversation  took  his  mind 
from  the  more  serious  purpose  of  his  visit,  and 
Winifred's  accent  implied  accepted  friendship. 
He  needed  this  relaxation. 


1 7o A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"I  never  cared  for  salads,  before,"  he  replied 
truthfully. 

"Why  did  you  eat  It?" 

"I  ate  it,  and  I  liked  it  because  you  made  it 
for  me.  I  am  not  used  to  being  waited  upon,  and 
I  rather  like  the  experience." 

"You  poor  man!"  Winifred  sympathized 
without  reflection.  "It  must  be  horrid  not  to  have 
anyone  to  do  things  for  you.  I  should  think — I 

mean "  she  colored  as  she  met  Philip's  eyes, 

"I  mean — Charlie  says  that  I  have  spoiled  him 
completely." 

The  advent  of  Blair  relieved  the  girl  from  her 
condition  of  fragmentary  speech,  and  they  talked 
of  the  Latimers  and  the  political  outlook  for  the 
coming  winter. 

Danvers  took  his  leave  with  a  feeling  of  re- 
gret at  parting  from  unexpectedly  congenial 
friends.  How  little  he  had  known  of  Blair — the 
good  fellow.  How  cheery  and  unaffected  Wini- 
fred was!  The  years  were  bridged  which  had 
separated  him  from  his  kind,  and  as  he  walked 
down  the  street  he  felt  a  glow  of  kindness  toward 
all  the  world. 

He  called  at  the  hotel,  thinking  Latimer  might 
have  returned,  but  Mrs.  Latimer  pettishly  denied 
any  knowledge  of  his  whereabouts.  He  often 
went  for  long  walks,  she  said,  and  seldom  re- 
turned until  late.  "Won't  you  stay  until  he  re- 


DESPAIR 171 

turns?"  she  invited,  but  Danvers  pleaded  busi- 
ness. 

Twice  during  the  afternoon  Danvers  ran  up  to 
the  judge's  office,  but  failed  to  find  him  until 
evening.  Seeing  a  light  in  the  inner  office,  he 
opened  the  door  and  entered. 

The  judge  did  not  look  up.  He  sat  with  his 
back  to  the  door,  and  gazed  intently  at  a  re- 
volver, while  his  hand  played  idly  with  the  trig- 
ger. 

Danvers  stepped  forward  and  silently  reached 
for  the  weapon. 

"No,  no,  Arthur!     Not  that!" 

"Phil!  You?"  Latimer  sprang  from  his 
chair.  "Why— why " 

Danvers  was  shocked  at  the  haggard  face. 

"I  ran  up  from  Fort  Benton,  Arthur,  just  to 
see  you.  I've  been  looking  for  you  all  the  after- 
noon." He  gently  pushed  the  trembling  man 
back  into  his  chair. 

"Why — why  did  you  stop  me?  It  would  have 
been  over — now — if " 

"Life  is  not  so  bad  as  that,  old  friend." 

"Isn't  it?"  bitterly.    "If  you " 

"I  can  understand — I  know.  But  you  must 
promise  me  that  you  will  not  attempt  this — 
again."  Danvers  spoke  firmly,  feeling  that  he 
could  never  leave  his  friend  if  he  were  not  given 
a  pledge. 


172 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

The  broken  man  looked  into  the  kind  eyes 
opposite.  "You  think  me  a  coward,  don't  you? 
I  promise." 

"No,"  refuted  Danvers,  warmly.  "You  are 
worn  out,  mentally  and  physically;  that  is  all. 
Take  a  run  to  the  coast  with  me  for  a  month  or 
two " 

Latimer  began  to  laugh,  mirthlessly.  "I 
couldn't  take  a  run  to  Fort  Benton,  Phil.  I 
haven't  a  dollar — not  a  dollar.  I'm  a  ruined 
man!" 

"Arthur!" 

Latimer  took  a  paper-knife  and  checked  off  his 
sentence.  His  voice  was  impersonal. 

"You  made  a  mistake,  Phil,  when  you  inter- 
rupted me.  No,  do  not  speak,"  he  raised  his 
hand.  "I  was  in  possession  of  what  sanity  I've 

had  since  Arthur "  He  did  not  complete  the 

sentence.  "I've  deliberately  decided  that  a  quick 
shot  was  the  only  solution  of  my  problem.  Boy 
gone;  home  gone;  my  dearest  ambition  frus- 
trated; hopelessly  in  debt " 

"I  can  help  you  in  that." 

"And  disbarment  proceedings  about  to  be  in- 
stituted," finished  Latimer. 

"What!"  ejaculated  Danvers.  "Who  will  in- 
stitute them?  On  what  grounds?" 

"Burroughs.     He  has  trumped  up  some  infa- 


DESPAIR 173 

mous  charge.  I  got  a  hint  of  it  only  this  morn- 
ing— a  straight  tip." 

"He  shall  not  do  it!  I  shall  have  something 
to  say  to  him — to  the  papers.  He  would  not  like 
to  have  them  get  hold  of  Moore's  interviews  with 
you  and  me  on  the  matter  of  that  Supreme  Court 
decision.  I " 

"Papers!"  Latimer  threw  out  his  hands  with 
a  helpless  gesture.  "Burroughs  owns  every  pa- 
per in  the  State!" 

"Well,  then,  I  have  another  card  to  play.  You 
leave  this  matter  to  me.  You  are  not  going  un- 
der, and  you  are  not  going  to — die — not  yet! 
Bob  will  drop  the  disbarment  proceedings,  I 
promise  you;  and  if  he  is  not  amenable  to  reason 
— why — he  does  not  own  the  Associated  Press!" 
grimly. 

"N-no.     But  I'm  broke — ruined." 

"What  do  you  think  a  friend  is  for,  Arthur?" 
said  Danvers,  reproachfully.  "If  I  had  had  any 
idea  that  financial  matters  were  troubling  you,  I 
would  have  fixed  you  out  in  short  order!" 

"I  can't  accept  favors." 

"Favors!"  slightingly,  to  cover  his  feeling.  "I 
shall  be  a  Shylock — never  you  fear!"  Then  a 
hand,  heavy  with  love,  fell  on  Latimer's  shoulder. 
"What  is  mine  is  yours,  Arthur." 

Within  a  week,  not  only  were  the  judge's  dif- 


i74 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

ficulties  relieved,  but  the  proposed  disbarment 
proceedings  were  dropped. 

"I  had  means,"  said  Danvers,  sternly,  when 
pressed  for  details  by  the  grateful  judge,  and 
none  but  Burroughs  ever  knew  of  the  threatened 
exposure. 

Before  Danvers  returned  to  Fort  Benton, 
he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Judge  Latimer  off 
for  the  East  on  legal  work  and  knew  that  his  low 
mental  condition  was  replaced  by  a  more  healthy 
one.  Mrs.  Latimer  he  avoided.  The  gratitude 
of  Winifred  Blair  came  as  a  surprise,  and 
strengthened  their  sympathy  in  this  common 
cause.  He  called  to  say  good-bye,  but  found  her 
not  at  home,  and  he  left  Helena  with  a  distinct 
feeling  of  disappointment. 

The  state  election  in  November  gave  Danvers 
a  handsome  majority,  and  it  was  as  the  senator 
from  Chouteau  County  that,  early  in  the  new 
year,  he  attended  the  governor's  reception  to  the 
legislators.  He  came  in  late,  and  after  paying 
his  respects  to  the  governor  and  his  wife,  wan- 
dered rather  helplessly  toward  the  hall,  seeing 
many  whom  he  knew,  but  finding  little  pleasure 
in  their  casual  greetings. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burroughs,  as  well  as  the  Hon. 
William  Moore,  had  come  from  Butte  to  attend 
the  brilliant  society  function.  Other  acquaint- 


DESPAIR £75 

ances  who  now  lived  at  the  capital  were  among 
the  guests  whom  Danvers  recognized.  His  sister 
he  seldom  saw,  and  the  lack  of  any  common  in- 
terest between  them  made  it  possible  to  meet  her 
husband  in  only  the  most  formal  way. 

Presently  he  saw  Winifred  Blair  at  the  salad 
table,  who,  chancing  to  look  up  from  her  task, 
smiled  invitingly. 

"May  I  not  serve  you  with  salad?"  she  asked, 
as  he  approached. 

"If  you  will  make  the  dressing,"  recalling  their 
lunch  of  the  late  summer. 

"It  is  already  dressed,"  laughed  the  girl. 

"Then  you  will  let  me  get  you  some  punch; 
come  with  me  for  it." 

She  was  perishing  of  thirst  (by  her  own  state- 
ment), and  Danvers  finding  some  one  to  take 
her  place  for  a  time,  discovered  a  quiet  corner 
of  the  library  past  which  swept  the  tide  of  callers. 
Hither  he  enticed  Miss  Blair,  and  soon  brought 
the  refreshing  drink.  She  sank  on  the  window 
couch. 

"How  nice  to  be  looked  after,"  she  said,  grate- 
fully. "I  believe  that  you  knew  I  was  tired  of 
the  silly  things  one  must  say  to  men  whom  one 
never  expects — or  wants — to  meet  again." 

"Never  say  silly  things  to  me  or  I  shall  think 
I  am  in  the  category." 

".Very  well,  I  will  not.     I've  always  had  to  be 


i76 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

to  other  people  what  they  wanted  me  to  be — 
what  they  expected.  Somehow,  with  you — I  am 
myself." 

"You  could  not  pay  me  a  higher  compliment." 

For  some  minutes  they  chatted  of  the  coming 
assembly  and  then  wandered  to  the  discussion  of 
a  book  which  denied  love  to  be  the  greatest  thing 
in  the  world.  By  that  instinct  which  prompts 
men  and  women  to  talk  of  this  one  subject  they 
enlarged  on  the  topic,  impersonally  at  first,  as  if 
it  were  a  matter  of  the  price  of  cattle. 

"Then  you  do  believe  in  the  great  passion?" 

"Certainly;  don't  you?" 

"I  used  to  think  that  I  did — years  ago.  But 
one  sees  the  counterfeit  so  often." 

"There  could  be  no  counterfeit  unless  the  real 
existed." 

"You  are  right.  The  real  is  so  rare,  then,  that 
one  despairs  of  knowing  it."  The  subject  grew 
more  personal.  "But  we  all  want  the  genuine." 

"I  don't  care  for  paste  diamonds  myself,  no 
matter  how  well  they  imitate." 

"You  have  had  opportunity  to  discriminate?" 
tentatively. 

"I — think  so,"  Winifred  replied,  reflectively, 
as  if  he  had  asked  whether  she  liked  cucumbers, 
and  his  face  clouded,  for  no  reason.  "Vicarious 
experience,"  she  added,  mischievously. 

"Oh!" 


DESPAIR 


177 


"I  have  admired  men;  liked  a  few  immensely," 
she  admitted,  frankly.  "But  the  mysterious  glow 
which  comes — it  has  never  enveloped  me,"  she 
ended  abruptly.  "Since  we  are  getting  so  per- 
sonal, how  about  yourself?" 

"I "  he  hesitated. 

"You  needn't  finish!"  Winifred  nodded,  laugh- 
ing. "Other  men  swear  by  the  little  god  that 

they  have  never  loved — never — until "  Once 

more  Winifred  found  her  facile  tongue  had  led 
her  into  difficulties. 

"Other  men  lie — I  do  not;  yet  you  evidently 
do  not  believe  me." 

"Yes,  I  do !  That  is  what  I  so  like  about  you. 
People  believe  you,  trust  you,  know  where  you 
are  to  be  found." 

"I  know  no  other  way,"  replied  the  Senator. 
"It  is  no  merit.  I  simply  find  it  awkward  and 
inconvenient  to  prevaricate." 

"You  are  to  be  congratulated,"  murmured  the 
girl,  ransacking  her  memory  for  another  man  who 
could  say  as  much. 

An  eddy  of  the  flowing  stream  of  guests 
brought  Mrs.  Burroughs  towards  them.  Mrs. 
Latimer,  too,  came  into  the  deep  window  space, 
the  ladies  talking  animatedly. 

"Am  I  not  right,  Winnie?"  appealed  Mrs.  Lat- 
imer, after  the  felicitations  of  the  day  had  been 
exchanged.  "I  say  that  a  woman  has  never  had 


178 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

a  love  affair  worthy  of  the  name  who  hasn't  had 
a  lover  called  'Jack.'  Jack — the  care-free;  Jack 
— the  debonair;  Jack — the  dare-devil!  It's  all 
in  the  name,  Jack." 

"Alas!"  moaned  Winifred,  entering  into  the 
gay  spirit  of  the  moment.  "Alack,  woe  is  me ! 
That  I  must  confess  my  poverty  before  woman" 
— she  glanced  at  Danvers — "and  man!  I've  had 
lovers  of  many  names — Henry  and  Jim  and — 

and — Bi "  she  seemed  out  of  names — "and 

of  many  hues — Brown  and  Green  and  Black;  but 
never  a  Jack  for  me!" 

"If  you  haven't  had  an  adorer  by  that  name," 
laughed  Mrs.  Latimer,  "it's  because  no  man  in 
the  state  answers  to  the  name  of  Jack!"  They 
all  joined  in  the  merriment,  to  Winifred's  con- 
fusion. 

"'Thou,  too,  Brutus!'"  she  quoted  reproach- 
fully. "What  will  Senator  Danvers  think  of  me, 
with  such  a  reputation  as  you  give." 

"Suppose  I  have  my  name  changed,"  suggested 
Danvers. 

"Philip  suits  you  very  well,"  Miss  Blair  an- 
swered, sedately.  "You  intimated  a  few  minutes 
ago  that  you  were  rather  inexperienced,"  she 
went  on  daringly.  "If  this  winter  you  will  try 
for  such  a  reputation  as  Mrs.  Latimer  gave  me, 
I'll  agree  to  meet  you  on  the  field  of  battle."  As 
she  concluded  the  doctor  came  up  and  the  joke 


DESPAIR T79 

was  explained  to  him.    He  turned  to  the  Senator. 

"You're  too  old  to  have  your  name  changed, 
or  to  affect  the  tender  passion,  Phil.  Leave  that 
to  younger  men — to  me!  I'll  have  my  name 
changed  to  Jack,  right  away;  and  as  for  loving, 
I  have  always  loved  thee!"  bowing  to  Winifred. 

A  chorus  of  shrieks  greeted  the  doctor's  dec- 
laration. 

"No,"  insisted  Philip,  when  his  voice  could 
be  heard,  "I  am  going  to  enter  the  lists,  inex- 
perienced as  I  am." 

The  challenge  in  his  eyes  was  good  to  see,  but 
Winifred  could  not  meet  them.  Delighted  at  the 
sight,  the  doctor  changed  the  subject,  and  soon 
the  group  broke  up. 

As  Danvers  greeted  others,  he  noticed  Eva 
Latimer  in  earnest  conversation  with  Mr.  Will- 
iam Moore.  He  bowed  in  passing,  but  their 
lowered  voices  paused  only  long  enough  for  the 
conventional  greeting. 

After  making  the  round  of  the  parlors,  Dan- 
vers found  the  doctor  and  soon  afterward  they 
returned  to  their  hotel. 


i8o 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


II  Trovatore^ 


THE  next  morning  Judge  Latimer  was  sur- 
prised to  find  his  wife  taking  a  sudden  in- 
terest in  politics. 

"Why  is  there  so  much  opposition  to  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs for  United  States  senator?"  she  inquired. 

"Several  reasons,"  he  answered,  evasively, 
thinking  she  would  not  be  interested  to  pursue 
the  subject. 

"But  he  will  be  elected." 

"That  remains  to  be  seen." 

"He  has  thirty  pledged  out  of  the  whole  ninety- 
four,  and  several " 

"How  do  you  know?  Where  did  you  get  your 
information?"  Latimer  spoke  sharply. 

"Mr.  Moore — nobody  talked  of  anything  else, 


IL  TRQVATQRE 181 

it  seems  to  me,"  amended  Mrs.  Latimer,  with 
what  carelessness  she  could  assume.  "Since  the 
legislators  have  been  arriving  I  have  heard  noth- 
ing discussed  so  much  as  Mr.  Burroughs'  chances 
of  winning  the  election." 

"That  comes  of  living  in  a  hotel,"  said  the 
judge,  bitterly.  "Burroughs'  headquarters  are  on 
this  floor,  too,  confound  it!  I  wish  we  had  not 
given  up  our  home." 

"I  don't,"  cried  Eva.  "Politics  are  lots  of  fun! 
I  had  no  idea  how  much  until  this  winter.  It's 
so  exciting!" 

She  did  not  tell  her  husband  that  the  Honorable 
William  Moore  had  been  at  considerable  pains  to 
interest  her  in  the  coming  struggle,  even  prolong- 
ing his  frequent  calls  unduly,  in  giving  her  an 
insight  (so  far  as  he  thought  necessary)  into  the 
workings  of  practical  politics  as  expounded  and 
promulgated  by  Mr.  Burroughs  and  himself.  So 
delicately  had  he  broached  what  had  been  in  his 
mind  since  the  night  of  Eva's  dinner  party  that 
before  she  was  aware  she  had  promised  that  she 
would  do  what  she  could  to  forward  Burroughs' 
cause  with  recalcitrant  members.  The  political 
manager  had  assured  her  that  his  patron,  in  his 
gratitude,  would  make  the  reward  for  her  services 
magnificently  great. 

Mrs.  Latimer  had  not  been  cajoled  into  this 
without  some  scruples,  for  she  well  knew  what 


182 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

her  husband  would  think.  She  remembered,  too, 
certain  interviews  of  her  own  with  Burroughs, 
which  she  would  have  liked  to  forget;  but  it  was 
many  years  ago  that  he  had  made  love  to  her,  and 
she  succeeded  in  allaying  the  troublesome  re- 
proaches of  conscience  by  the  justification  of  the 
urgent  need  of  retrieving  their  fortunes.  If  Ar- 
thur could  be  made  minister  to  some  foreign  capi- 
tal (her  ambition  had  vaulted  to  Berlin)  he  need 
never  suspect  her  share  in  its  offer. 

Mr.  Moore  had  told  her  that  only  a  rich  man 
could  afford  to  be  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  larger 
legations,  and  had  most  thoughtfully  placed  cer- 
tain mining  shares  in  her  name,  whose  value  had 
already  increased  gratifyingly.  When  Arthur 
should  ask  her  how  he  could  accept  such  a  posi- 
tion, she  would  triumphantly  produce  the  fortune 
made  from  these  shares,  and  explain  that  she  had 
judiciously  invested  the  small  patrimony  from  her 
father's  estate.  It  all  seemed  easy  to  the  ambi- 
tious woman.  Only  a  little  effort  to  interest  cer- 
tain men — could  anything  be  easier? 

And  the  gold  which  she  had  found  after 
Moore's  last  call !  When  she  had  sent  him  word 
he  told  her  that  he  had  its  duplicate;  to  use  the 
money,  since  she  had  found  it.  The  temptation 
was  great.  Arthur  was  always  complaining  of 
unpaid  accounts.  She  settled  certain  debts  with  a 


IL  TROVATORE 183 

light  heart.     He  would  never  think  to  inquire 
about  them. 

So  now  she  merely  looked  misunderstood  as 
she  continued:  "It  is  nothing  to  us,  of  course, 
whether  Mr.  Burroughs  is  elected;  but" — she 
hesitated,  not  knowing  how  best  to  proceed — "I'm 
sure  a  word  from  you  would  have  great  influence 
with  the  members." 

Latimer  was  dumfounded.  Then  he  began  to 
laugh. 

"You  would  make  a  first-class  lobbyist!"  he 
said  lightly.  "Have  a  care!  A  word  from  you 
would  be  worth  ten  of  mine."  Then,  more  seri- 
ously: "Don't  talk  too  much  of  this,  Eva.  It  is 
going  to  be  a  bad  business  before  a  senator  is 
elected.  Ugly  rumors  are  heard  already.  I  know 
of "  He  changed  his  words.  "Mr.  Bur- 
roughs is  not  respected  among  men  of  integrity. 
Not  even  among  men  of  low  standards.  His 
wealth  is  his  only  asset.  Unscrupulous,  defying 

investigation "   He  pulled  himself  up.   Never 

before  had  he  expressed  so  definite  a  judgment  on 
the  millionaire. 

But  though  he  cautioned  his  wife,  Latimer  had 
no  suspicion  that  it  might  be  necessary.  She  had 
lived  purely  on  the  surface,  showing  no  interest 
in  anything  but  dress,  society,  herself.  It  did  not 
occur  to  him  that  ambition  might  render  her 


1 84 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

something  more  than  a  butterfly.  In  this  respect 
Moore  read  the  woman  more  accurately. 

That  week  Helena  was  billed  for  Italian  opera. 
The  announcement  of  //  Trovatore  made  Dan- 
vers' heart  leap  with  desire  to  hear  it  once  more. 
He  knew  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  company 
could  sing,  but  it  could  not  be  wholly  bad. 

When  he  first  heard  the  opera,  during  a  boy- 
ish holiday  in  London,  it  was  at  the  height  of 
its  popularity,  and  every  evening  of  his  vacation 
found  him  enthralled  in  the  boxes.  The  isolation 
of  the  frontier  had  but  made  the  old  music  more 
loved,  and  Philip  decided  to  make  up  a  box  party 
of  his  friends.  Miss  Blair  had  told  him  that  she 
had  never  heard  it  in  its  entirety.  She  should  be 
the  guest  of  honor.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Latimer, 
Blair,  the  doctor  from  Fort  Benton  and  O'Dwyer 
should  complete  the  party. 

"The  opera  has  been  given  for  the  last  twenty 
years,"  said  Senator  Danvers  to  Miss  Blair,  as 
she  expressed  herself  delighted  to  accept  his  in- 
vitation. "You  could  hardly  get  a  corporal's 
guard  to  go  across  the  street  to  hear  it  in  New 
York,  I  fancy;  but  it  was  the  first  opera  I  ever 
heard,  and  I  love  the  old  airs." 

The  theater  was  filling  fast  as  Danvers  held 
the  curtain  aside  for  his  guests  to  enter  the  box. 
The  distractions  of  the  opposing  forces  at  the 
capitol  were,  for  the  time,  dismissed,  and  he  lis- 


IL  TROVATORE 185 

tened  with  amusement  to  Miss  Blair  as  he  assisted 
to  remove  her  light  opera  cloak. 

"I've  never  been  in  a  theater  box  before,"  she 
confessed.  "It  makes  one  feel  exclusive,  doesn't 
it?  And,  oh,  dear!  dreadfully  self-conscious. 
Suppose  I  fall  out — over  the  railing?  I'm  sure 
I  shall  bring  disgrace  upon  us!"  She  looked  gaily 
at  her  host.  "Suppose  I  should  fall  over?"  she 
repeated,  her  eyes  wide  with  pretense. 

"Somebody  would  catch  you,"  said  matter-of- 
fact  Eva. 

"If  you  think  that  you  are  growing  dizzy  from 
looking  over  that  fearful,  two-foot  precipice," 
said  Danvers,  adopting  Winifred's  tone,  "I'm  go- 
ing to  be  the  one  to  save  you  from  a  tragic  death ! 
I'll  go  around  now,  and  get  ready  to  be  a  hero !" 

"Don't!  A  lady  in  an  opera  box  is  worth  two 
in  the  orchestra  seats,"  paraphrased  Winifred, 
blithely.  "I  will  not  fall  out." 

As  Danvers  pulled  her  chair  a  little  further 
from  the  low  rail,  Winifred  noticed  his  face 
change. 

"What  is  it?"  she  asked,  in  quick  response. 

Philip  smiled  a  little  sadly.  "  'My  heart  is  on 
the  ground,'  "  he  answered,  using  an  expressive 
Indian  phrase.  "I  cannot  be  light  and  witty.  I 
am  cursed  with  seriousness." 

"Your  friends  like  you  just  as  you  are."     But 


186 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

in  this  frank  avowal  the  senator  found  no  consola- 
tion. 

Danvers'  enjoyment  of  the  familiar  opera  was 
augmented  by  the  appreciation  shown  on  Wini- 
fred's earnest,  mobile  face.  The  company  proved 
to  be  exceptionally  good,  the  voices  above  the 
average,  the  acting  intelligent  and  con  amore. 
The  passionate  intensity  of  the  Italians  soon  en- 
thused Miss  Blair  into  forgetfulness  of  those 
around  her.  While  her  brother  and  O'Dwyer  sat 
stoically,  the  doctor  contentedly,  and  Mrs.  Lati- 
mer  indifferent  in  her  secret  musing,  Arthur  and 
Philip  followed,  with  her,  the  fortunes  of  Leo- 
nora. Not  until  the  curtain  fell  on  act  three  did 
she  readily  join  in  the  chatter  of  her  friends,  and 
then  only  when  Judge  Latimer  said  to  his  wife : 
"You  should  have  heard  Phil  sing  'Di  quella  pira 
when  we  were  at  Fort  Macleod.  He  reached  that 
high  note  quite  as  easily  as  this  Italian." 

"Don't  you  believe  him,  Mrs.  Latimer,"  be- 
sought Danvers.  "Make  allowance  for  his  well- 
known  partiality." 

"Certainly,"  responded  Eva,  trying  to  make 
her  tone  indifferent.  She  never  was  quite  sure  of 
her  voice  when  speaking  directly  to  this  man  who 
ignored  the  past. 

"Do  you  sing?"  Winifred  turned  with  a  quick 
motion  which  was  characteristic.  "Do  you,  Sena- 
tor Danvers?" 


IL  TROVATORE 187 

"I  do  not." 

"But  you  did?" 

"You  bet  he  did!"  blurted  out  O'Dwyer,  ever 
ready  to  recite  the  good  qualities  of  Danvers. 
Thereupon  he  told  of  the  Christmas  supper, 
Colonel  Macleod's  request,  and  the  duet.  "But 
they  sang  in  English,  so  a  Christian  could  under- 
stand— not  this  Dago  lingo,"  he  concluded.  The 
Irishman's  contempt  for  the  soft  Italian  syllables 
was  irresistible. 

"Oh,"  sighed  Winifred,  after  the  laugh  had 
died  away,  "I  wish  that  I  could  have  been  at  Fort 
Macleod  that  Christmas  night!"  she  included 
Judge  Latimer  in  her  friendly  glance. 

"Mr.  O'Dwyer  did  not  tell  you  that  he  could 
sing!"  chortled  Latimer.  But  O'Dwyer  begged 
to  be  spared,  and  after  some  good-natured  rail- 
lery the  judge  acquiesced. 

"Has  that  particular  duet  already  been  sung?" 
Winifred's  eyes  shone  as  she  leaned  toward  her 
host.  "If  it  has  I  shall  insist  upon  its  being  re- 
peated?" 

"You  are  so  used  to  having  people  do  as  you 
ask  that  I  believe  you  would,"  volunteered  Eva. 

"Of  course  I  would.  Everybody  does  as  I 
wish." 

"Perhaps  that  is  because  you  do  not  ask  im- 
possible things,"  put  in  Senator  Danvers.  "But 
to  relieve  your  anxiety,  and  to  prevent  your 


i88 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

rising  and  asking  for  something  that  might  be 
refused,  I  hasten  to  assure  you  that  the  duet  has 
not  been  sung.  Mr.  O'Dwyer  forgot  to  say  that 
it  was  the  Miserere  that  we  tried  to  sing  for  dear 
old  Colonel  Macleod.  I'm  afraid  we  did  it  pretty 
poorly." 

From  this  the  conversation  drifted  to  other 
matters. 

"I  don't  see  Mr.  Burroughs,  Senator  Danvers, 
although  your  sister  and  niece  are  in  one  of  the 
opposite  boxes,"  said  Eva,  sweeping  the  house 
with  her  glasses.  "Nor  Mr.  Moore,  nor  Senator 
Hall — although  his  wife  is  here,"  she  added. 

"Politics  are  more  exciting  than  Italian  opera, 
I  fancy,"  said  Winifred. 

"The  politicians  are  pretty  busy,"  confirmed 
the  judge. 

"Whom  do  you  think  I  saw  on  the  street  to- 
day, Danvers?"  asked  Blair,  suddenly.  "Mc- 
Devitt!"  he  announced,  waiting  for  no  specula- 
tions. 

"No!" 

The  men  were  surprised,  for  McDevitt,  the 
missionary-trader,  had  long  since  been  forgotten. 

"He  says  that  he  lives  in  Montana  now,  some- 
where near  the  Canadian  line." 

Just  then  a  messenger  boy  brought  a  telegram 
for  Danvers,  who  excused  himself  to  read  and 
answer  it.  As  he  returned  the  opening  bars  of 


IL  TROVATORE 182 

Leonora's  florid  song  sounded,  and  under  cover 
of  the  music  the  doctor  whispered  to  O'Dwyer: 
"You  did  better  to-night  in  your  whole-souled 
praise  than  when  your  elbow  was  sprained  at  Fort 
Macleod.  This  is  the  girl!" 

"Betcher  life  she  is!  An'  what's  more,  she's 
on!"  The  Irishman  reverted  to  trooper  slang  in 
his  ardor,  and  got  a  sharp  nudge  from  the  doc- 
tor in  consequence. 

The  beautiful  melodies  followed  in  swift  suc- 
cession. Miss  Blair  gave  a  sigh  of  appreciation 
as  the  Miserere  "Ah  che  la  mort"  was  sung,  and 
unconsciously  put  out  her  hand.  The  sleeve  of 
her  soft  evening  gown  brushed  Danvers'  arm, 
and  instantly  his  heart  began  to  sing.  Not  so  had 
he  been  stirred  by  Eva's  conscious  touch,  years 
before.  Eva  had  not  struck  the  chord  divine — 
this  thrill  revealed  it. 

"I  want  to  live,"  breathed  Winifred,  "while 
there  is  such  music  and  such  love  in  the  world. 
I  don't  care  if  it  is  old — the  opera.  Music  and 
love  never  grow  old." 

As  the  duet  ended,  Winifred  and  Philip,  each 
in  the  thrall  of  the  divine  song,  looked  deep  into 
each  other's  eyes.  Confused,  startled,  the  spell 
was  broken,  and  Winifred  turned  again  to  the 
stage. 

When  the  Latimers  were  alone  in  their  apart- 


1 9o A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

ments  the  judge  remarked  on  Danvers'  generos- 
ity. "I  never  knew  a  man  who  so  delighted  in 
giving  pleasure  to  other  people.  He  sent  tickets 
to  a  family  of  four  to-night  because  he  heard 
me  speak  of  their  love  for  music ;  and  they'll  never 
know  their  benefactor." 

"You're  always  ready  to  sing  the  praises  of 
Senator  Danvers !"  Mrs.  Latimer  stifled  a  yawn. 
"I  really  get  tired  of  hearing  his  good  qualities 
enumerated." 

While  Danvers  and  his  friends  were  enjoying 
the  opera  Joseph  Hall  sat  in  a  hotel  office  in 
Helena,  watching  the  crowd  and  grumbling  at  the 
excitement  and  bustle  of  the  politicians  and 
hangers-on. 

He  was  something  of  a  power  in  the  political 
affairs  of  the  State,  but  to-night  the  swarming 
activity  of  the  candidates  for  the  appointive  offices 
displeased  him  mightily.  So  did  the  well-organ- 
ized methods  of  one  man  who  wanted  to  go  to 
Congress — Robert  Burroughs.  Hall  did  not  be- 
long to  the  party  in  power,  although  he  had  been 
elected  from  his  county.  As  he  saw  Burroughs' 
friends  hobnobbing  with  the  country  legislators 
he  shut  his  eyes,  cursing  all  men  impartially.  Like 
a  thorn  in  the  flesh  the  memory  of  Burroughs' 
trick  and  the  resultant  lawsuit  pricked  his  anger 
into  poisonous  hate.  Outwardly  he  showed  no 


IL  TROVATORE 191 

enmity,  but  revenge  would  be  sweet.  To  be  sure, 
he  had  won  his  suit  and  recovered  his  share  of 
the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  -mine,  but  the 
cause  rankled,  and  had  become  a  mania,  not  the 
less  dangerous  because  it  was  nursed  secretly. 

In  the  jostling,  good-natured  throng  of  sena- 
tors, representatives,  boys  who  wanted  to  be 
pages,  and  girls  who  boldly  or  coyly  tried  to  in- 
terest unintroduced  men  in  their  clerical  abilities, 
Joe  Hall  saw  no  one  with  whom  he  cared  to 
speak.  Montana  was  not  yet  populous  enough  to 
make  its  leading  men  unknown  to  each  other, 
especially  the  old-timers.  As  he  rose  to  go  he 
heard  his  name  spoken,  and  turned  to  face  a  man 
whom  he  could  not  for  the  moment  place. 

"McDevitt !"  he  finally  exclaimed. 

"To  command,"  was  the  fawning  response. 
"May  I  speak  to  you  for  a  moment?" 

Hall  hesitated;  he  thought  that  the  man  would 
hardly  be  seeking  an  office  at  the  capital,  and  he 
motioned  the  Canadian  to  follow.  They  passed 
into  a  small  room  reserved  for  semi-private  con- 
versations. 

"What  shall  it  be?"  he  asked  as  they  took  seats 
at  a  small  table. 

"Lemonade."  McDevitt  had  never  drunk 
openly.  Joe  smiled  grimly  at  the  call-boy's  amaze- 
ment. Lemonade  was  not  often  called  for  at  that 
hotel.  Hall's  own  order  was  gin. 


192 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Well?" 

McDevitt  was  disconcerted.  He  had  thought 
to  receive  a  cordial  greeting,  forgetting  that 
Joseph  Hall  had  left  the  North  West  Mounted 
Police  in  disgrace,  and  might  wish  to  ignore  his 
past.  He  hesitated;  then,  seeing  that  there  were 
to  be  no  questionings,  he  began  autobiographi- 
cally : 

"I've  been  living  in  Montana  for  some  time. 
I  run  a  little  store.  Say,  look  here,"  his  voice 
changed  to  anxiety  as  he  breathed  his  desire,  "I'm 
here  looking  for  a  job.  I'm  no  lobbyist,  but  I 
want  a  position  at  the  capital." 

"Oh,  you  do?" 

"Yes.  I  thought  maybe  you  could  give  me  a 
good  word.  I  know  you're  a  leading  light  in 
Montana  politics.  I  seen  by  the  papers  that  you 
was  State  senator." 

"Oh,  you  did?"  Little  encouragement  could  be 
gathered  from  the  noncommittal  responses. 
Hall's  restless,  drumming  fingers  and  lowered 
gaze  threw  the  suppliant  out  of  countenance. 
McDevitt,  in  turn,  grew  silent  and  drank  the  last 
of  his  mild  refreshment.  Hall  looked  up,  with 
shifty  eyes. 

"Can  you  pray?" 

"Now?"  gasped  the  startled  ex-preacher. 

Joe  relaxed  in  spite  of  himself.  "Well,  not 
just  now.  This  is  not  a  church."  The  jingle  of 


IL  TRQVATQRE 193 

glasses  in  the  adjoining  bar  corroborated  his  state- 
ment. "When  were  you  in  Macleod  last?"  The 
question  came  suddenly,  with  intent  to  surprise 
truth. 

"Oh,  some  little  time  ago,"  evaded  McDevitt, 
deftly.  Why  tell  that  he  had  been  caught  smug- 
gling whiskey,  and  after  serving  his  sentence  had 
left  Canada? 

Hall  looked  at  him,  thoughtfully,  with  a  curious 
cunning  in  his  eyes. 

"Then  you  don't  happen  to  know  where  Bob 
Burroughs'  squaw  is?" 

"Pine  Coulee?  Why — she's — that  is — perhaps 
I  could  find  out?  What  do  you  want  to  know 
for?"  The  caution  of  a  possible  bargain  ap- 
peared. 

Hall  did  not  answer  immediately,  but  went  back 
to  McDevitt's  request. 

"So  you  want  a  job?  Why  don't  you  go  to 
Burroughs?  He  isn't  in  the  Legislature,  but  he 
seems  to  be  promising  'most  everything  to  'most 
everybody  these  days."  Joe  spoke  bitterly,  and 
light  dawned  on  the  not  over  acute  McDevitt. 

"H-m-ml  Me  asking  Bob  Burroughs  for  any- 
thing! I  see  myself!" 

"Or  him  giving  it!"  supplemented  Hall,  re- 
membering the  rivalry  of  the  traders.  Again  he 
did  deliberate  thinking.  If  he  should  place  Mc- 
Devitt it  would  be  a  small  but  irritating  way  to 


i94 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

annoy  Burroughs.  He  was  not  above  seeking 
even  infinitesimal  means  of  stinging,  and  this 
chance  encounter  might  lead  to  something  more 
to  his  set  purpose.  So  he  went  on:  "Get  you  a 
job,  eh?  Se-ve-ri-al  others  want  sinecures."  He 
grew  facetious  as  his  thought  took  shape.  "I'm 
out  of  it  this  year,  Mac.  Still,  I  think  I've  in- 
fluence enough  to  help  an  old  friend  if "  His 

look  suggested  an  exchange  of  favors. 

McDevitt  was  shrewd  enough  to  wait.  Joe 
mused  an  appreciable  time,  beating  his  tattoo  on 
the  table.  "Yes,"  he  finally  said,  "they've  got  to 
give  the  minority  something,  and  I  know  one  of 
the  members  who  can  get  what  I  want.  He's 
owing  me  a  little  favor — see?  I  needn't  figure  in 
the  deal  at  all,  and  Burroughs  will  be  mad  as 
thunder."  Again  he  thrummed,  decisively  this 
time.  "If  I  get  you  on  the  pay-roll  as  chaplain 
at  five  per  (or  whatever  the  legislators  pay  for 
prayers  which,  if  answered,  would  put  'em  out 
of  business),  I'll  expect  you  to  find  Pine  Coulee 
and  Burroughs'  half-breed  brat.  He  must  be  a 
chunk  of  a  youngster  now,  if  he's  alive.  And," 
impressively,  "after  that  I'll  expect  you  to  keep 
your  mouth  shut — see  ?" 

"Oh,  the  'breed's  alive,  all  right,"  threw  out 
the  ex-preacher  in  the  expansion  of  his  soul  at 
the  thought  of  a  comfortable  per  diem.  "The 
hour  I  sign  the  pay-roll  I'll  tell  yeh  several  sur- 


1L  TRQVATORE 195 

prisin'  things.  I'd  like  to  get  even,  too.  And  as 
for  talking  too  much  with  my  mouth,  I  reckon 
selling  whiskey  in  the  Whoop  Up  Country  after 
the  Police  came  in  taught  me  the  necessity  of  oc- 
casionally being  a  mute." 


196 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


^^^  Chajitef  . 

•  i)ebaucliin6  a  Legislature/^ 

THE  rumors  of  vote-buying  before  the  Legis- 
lature convened  were  forgotten  in  the 
facts  of  the  days  following.  The  first 
ballot  for  United  States  senator,  as  provided  for 
by  the  Federal  statutes,  was  cast  in  each  branch 
of  the  Assembly  separately  on  the  second  Tuesday 
after  organization;  and  it  was,  as  usual,  scattered 
by  honoring  different  men  of  State  repute.  The 
next  day,  and  the  next,  the  ballot  was  taken  in 
joint  session.  The  first  test  of  each  candidate's 
strength  showed  that  Robert  Burroughs  had  but 
thirty  of  the  entire  ninety-four.  Thereafter  be- 
gan a  systematized  demoralization  of  the  men  of 
all  parties  who  constituted  the  legislative  assem- 
bly. Sumptuous  headquarters  were  maintained 


DEBAUCHING  A  LEGISLATURE  1 97 

at  the  leading  hotel  by  Mr.  Burroughs,  and  the 
Honorable  William  Moore,  past  master  in  chican- 
ery and  rascality,  extended  a  well-filled  hand  to 
all  who  entered  the  spider's  parlor.  Burroughs 
was  seldom  in  evidence.  In  fact,  he  was  not  often 
in  the  city. 

"My  friends  are  working  for  me,"  he  would 
explain,  nonchalantly.  "I  have  placed  myself  in 
their  hands  completely.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
me  to  trouble  about  the  minor  details.  They 
have  urged  me  to  allow  my  name  to  be  used;  but, 
really,  it  is  immaterial  to  me — I  have  other  in- 
terests to  look  after."  Then,  plaintively,  "I  am 
far  from  well." 

This  last  statement  was  a  self-evident  fact. 
Years  of  crafty  plotting  had  seamed  Burroughs' 
face  with  lines  that  come  from  secret  connivings 
— an  offer  here,  a  lure  there;  a  sword  of  Damocles 
held  low;  an  iron  hand  and  a  velvet  glove — all 
these  things  made  for  age  in  heavy  retribution. 
He  complained  of  the  heat,  of  the  cold;  of  his 
breathing  and  of  his  digestion.  A  sense  of  suffo- 
cating fullness  oppressed  him  as  he  climbed  the 
steep  incline  of  the  streets  of  the  capital.  Yet 
he  retained  his  pride  in  the  English  girl  whom  he 
had  married,  as  he  avowed,  to  vent  malice  on  her 
brother.  His  family  affection  was  the  one  re- 
deeming sentiment  of  his  life.  When  he  was  away 
from  Butte  not  a  day  passed  that  he  did  not  com- 


198 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

municate  with  his  wife,  either  by  post  or  telegraph. 
He  took  pains  that  no  newspapers  speaking  ill  of 
him  should  gain  admittance  to  his  house — a  super- 
fluous task,  since  politics  were  of  no  interest  to  his 
home-loving  wife. 

William  Moore  sometimes  looked  meditatively 
at  his  old  friend  as  he  fumed  over  trifles.  In- 
variably after  such  reflection  he  saw  to  it  that  his 
own  private  exchequer  was  bettered  from  the  flow 
of  gold  streaming  from  the  millionaire's  store. 
It  was  well  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  thought  the 
ex-wolfer,  sagely.  Yet  on  the  whole  his  arduous 
work  as  Burroughs'  manager  was  conscientiously 
done.  These  men  had  worked  together  too  long 
for  Moore  not  to  feel  a  personal  pride  in  his  work 
of  debauching  a  Legislature. 

Other  candidates  there  were,  too,  who  used 
illegal  methods  to  obtain  votes.  Not  that  no 
reputable  man  was  a  candidate;  not  that  honest, 
incorruptible  men  could  not  be  found  in  the  legis- 
lative halls  of  Montana;  but  Moore's  extrava- 
gance in  behalf  of  his  chief  shattered  all  prece- 
dents, defied  integrity  and  exposure  and  eclipsed 
the  good  that  would  not  be  submerged.  In  fact, 
his  prodigality  defeated  its  purpose;  when  men 
found  that  they  could  get  five  thousand  dollars  for 
a  vote  as  easily  as  one  thousand,  they  held  their 
decision  in  abeyance  until  the  consideration  was 
increased  fourfold.  This  not  once,  nor  twice;  not 


DEBAUCHING  A  LEGISLATURE  199 

by  one  man,  but  by  the  indefinite  many,  until  it 
was  current  talk  that  certain  men  had  received 
one,  five,  ten,  even  fifteen  thousand  dollars  for 
their  votes.  Why  should  legislators  talk  of  "their 
duty,"  or  "the  principle  of  the  thing,"  when  a 
lifetime  of  ordinary  business  methods  and  deal- 
ings would  bring  but  little  more  than  might  be 
obtained  by  speaking  a  man's  name  in  joint  as- 
sembly? To  listen  to  any  group  of  men  discuss- 
ing the  political  situation  one  unacquainted  with 
the  law  would  never  mistrust  that  bribery  in  leg- 
islatures was  a  state's  prison  offense. 

So  wary  did  members  become  that  Burroughs, 
possessing  small  faith  in  the  impeccability  of  his 
fellow  men,  grew  peevish  at  the  delay  in  securing 
the  requisite  majority,  while  those  who  held  Mon- 
tana's best  interests  at  heart  breasted  the  tidal 
wave  of  corruption  with  sinking  hearts. 

As  in  every  contest  of  its  kind,  the  full  vote 
for  Burroughs  was  not  cast  at  any  joint  assembly 
until  Moore  knew  he  had  the  number  required  to 
elect.  In  this  way  no  legislator  was  sure  from 
day  to  day  of  the  man  sitting  beside  him;  some 
one  known  to  be  pledged  to  another  candidate,  or 
professing  himself  under  no  obligations  to  any 
man,  would  swaggeringly  or  shamefacedly,  as  the 
case  might  be,  announce  as  his  name  was  called 
from  the  alphabetical  list  by  the  brazen-voiced 
reader  in  front  of  the  speaker's  desk  that  his 


200 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

choice  for  a  United  States  senator  was  Robert 
Burroughs. 

Days  went  by,  with  no  decisive  vote ;  there  was 
less  good-fellowship,  more  caution;  less  talking, 
more  secrecy;  each  member  looking  askance  at 
his  neighbor,  wondering  if  he  was  or  would  be 
bought.  Lobbies  and  halls  of  capitol,  hotels,  sa- 
loons and  offices  swarmed  with  men  talking  of 
Burroughs. 

O'Dwyer,  member  from  Chouteau  County, 
took  to  walking  in  the  middle  of  the  streets  to 
ward  off  Burroughs'  emissaries — greatly  to  the 
amusement  of  his  friends,  in  days  when  amuse- 
ment was  seldom  indulged  in  by  the  small  band 
of  honest  men  in  the  Legislature.  State  Senator 
Danvers  grew  more  grave  as  time  went  on.  The 
onus  of  his  party's  opposition  had  fallen  on  him, 
for  he  was  working  for  the  governor's  election  as 
United  States  senator  as  against  Burroughs,  also 
a  Republican.  He  felt  more  alone  than  at  any 
time  since  he  had  lived  in  the  Northwest,  for  the 
doctor  was  back  at  Fort  Benton,  and  Judge  Lati- 
mer  away  on  professional  matters. 

Hall  grew  unctuous,  and  had  many  a  sly  wink 
with  Chaplain  McDevitt.  Senator  Blair  was 
moody,  restless  and  irritable,  except  in  the  hours 
which  he  spent  with  Mrs.  Latimer.  Winifred,  in 
her  anxiety,  became  a  stranger  to  sleep,  but  she 


DEBAUCHING  A  LEGISLATURE  201 

made  no  complaint  of  her  haunting  fear.  A  re- 
serve, unnatural  to  her,  became  apparent. 

With  Eva  Latimer  it  was  different.  She  was 
intoxicated  with  the  excitement,  and  missed  no 
noon  hour  when  the  senate  marched  in,  two  by 
two,  to  the  representatives'  chamber  for  the  daily 
balloting.  With  a  list  of  the  members  of  both 
houses  in  hand,  she  sat  watching  the  proceedings 
and  checking  off  each  name  on  the  roll-call.  Her 
absorption  in  the  varying  sum  totals  for  Bur- 
roughs made  her  unconscious  of  the  glances  in  her 
direction;  and  Moore,  secluded  in  his  retreat, 
knew  nothing  of  her  open  interest  in  the  capitol. 
Often  Senator  Blair  was  at  her  side  at  the  con- 
vening of  the  Legislature,  or  provided  her  a  seat 
near  his  own,  and  in  the  intervals  of  routine  work 
they  would  chat  in  low  tones.  She  often  cast 
furtive  eyes  at  Danvers,  eyes  that  revealed  so 
much  that  those  who  watched  her  smiled  meaning- 
ly. But  Danvers,  absorbed  in  his  arduous  duties, 
saw  nothing  personal  in  her  self-revealing  glance; 
he  resented  only  her  carelessness  in  protecting  her 
absent  husband's  interests. 

The  contest  was  not  without  its  amusing  fea- 
tures. A  nervous  representative  shied  violently 
at  a  piece  of  writing  paper  one  night  which  had 
been  left  on  his  floor  by  a  careless  chambermaid; 
for  the  member  rooming  next  him  had  the  night 
before  opened  his  innocent  eyes  on  a  thousand- 


202 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

dollar  bill  miraculously  floating  through  the  tran- 
som. If  bills  of  such  denomination  materialized 
as  cleverly  as  roses  at  a  medium's  seance,  what 
might  not  develop  at  any  moment?  It  was  dis- 
quieting! Beds  were  feverishly  ripped  open  in- 
stead of  being  slept  in;  mattresses  were  over- 
hauled and  pillows  uncased;  chiffoniers  were 
turned  upside  down  in  hope  that  bills  were  tacked 
on  the  bottom;  envelopes  in  unfamiliar  handwrit- 
ing were  opened  cautiously,  with  no  witnesses; 
papers  were  signed  making  one  legislator  an  In- 
dian agent,  another  a  doctor  in  a  coal. camp,  an- 
other a  lawyer  in  a  large  corporation — all  posi- 
tions contingent  on  Burroughs'  election.  The  list 
of  pledged  men  grew,  yet  still  Moore's  outlay  did 
not  buy  the  United  States  senatorship  for  Robert 
Burroughs. 

uYes,  the  whole  number  of  ninety-four,"  con- 
fided Moore,  patiently,  as  Burroughs  asked  for 
the  hundredth  time  how  many  members  were  in 
the  Assembly.  They  were  sitting  before  a  large 
desk  in  the  inner  room  of  Burroughs'  suite,  and 
the  Assembly  had  been  in  session  nearly  six  weeks. 

"I  surely  have  forty-five  of  'em  now?"  anx- 
iously. 

"That's  the  way  I've  got  it  figured,"  sooth- 
ingly. 

"Good  men?  Men  who  would  vote  for  me 
anyway?"  Burroughs  had  lately  developed  an 


203 


exasperating  desire  to  believe  that  some  man  was 
his  friend  with  no  thought  of  reward.  Mr. 
Moore,  knowing  the  aspirant's  record  and  repu- 
tation, thought  that  this  portended  senility. 

"Yes — I  suppose  so.    Thirty  of  'em,  anyway." 

"And  the  others?" 

"Oh,  so-so,"  indifferently.    What  did  it  matter? 

"How  many  are  there  who  can't  be  ap- 
proached?" 

"It's  pretty  hard  to  tell  who  can  and  who 
can't,"  parried  Moore,  cautiously,  and  lighted  a 
cigar.  "I  fancy  the  lantern  business  would  ex- 
perience a  gigantic  boom  if  one  went  hunting  for 
an  honest  man  in  politics." 

"In  Montana,"  supplemented  Burroughs,  smil- 
ing at  his  pleasantry. 

"In  Montana,"  acquiesced  the  arch-briber, 
suavely. 

"How  many  more  must  I  get?"  This  was  a 
question  that  any  child  could  answer,  but  Bur- 
roughs had  a  nervous  desire  to  talk  which  irri- 
tated his  companion  almost  beyond  endurance. 
The  day  had  been  a  trying  one,  and  Burroughs 
asked  for  repetitions  of  statements  and  figures 
unceasingly. 

"Three  or  four,  to  make  certain,"  answered 
Moore,  with  what  urbanity  he  could  command  at 
the  moment. 

"How  much  have  you  paid  out  already?"    The 


204 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

change  in  subject  was  not  so  unexpected  as  might 
appear.  Like  most  millionaires,  the  magnate  kept 
closer  account  of  his  expenditures  than  many  a 
working  man. 

"I  haven't  the  exact  figures.  Men  often  come 
in  and  ask  for  money  to  grease  their  gabbers  with, 
and  I  give  it  to  them  without  making  a  note  of  the 
item." 

"I  wouldn't  believe  you  under  oath — unless  I 
chose,"  Burroughs  said,  equably. 

Moore  shrugged  his  shoulders.  It  was  all  a 
matter  of  a  day's  exigencies. 

"Seems  to  me  we've  got  a  lot  of  bribe-brokers 
who  are  earning  easy  money,"  continued  the  can- 
didate for  Congress. 

"That's  no  dream.  But  the  saloons  must  be 
worked,  and  the  men  who  are  talking  for  you  all 
the  time  seem  to  think  it  is  worth  cash  money 
right  along.  They've  cultivated  the  politician's 
faculty  of  making  themselves  indispensable." 

"Oh,  well,  that's  all  right.  I'll  go  to  Congress 
if  it  costs  me — no  one  knows  what  it  costs  to  buy 
a  Legislature,  but  I'm  going  to  find  out  this  win- 
ter." Burroughs  looked  thoughtfully  at  a  slip  of 
paper  on  the  desk,  then  raised  his  eyes. 

"Haven't  got  O'Dwyer,  I  see." 

"No." 

"What  do  you  think  he'll  do?" 

"I'm  no  mind  reader." 


DEBAUCHING  A  LEGISLATURE  205 

"Can't  get  Danvers?" 

"What  are  you  thinking  of?  Of  course  we 
can't  get  him.  He's  the  head  of  the  opposition. 
We  won't  even  try.  I've  had  one  experience  with 
him  in  that  Hall  case.  That's  enough  for  me, 
and,"  defiantly,  "I  rather  admire  him."  Bur- 
roughs lifted  his  eyebrows.  "Besides " 

"How  about  Joe  Hall?"  Burroughs  inter- 
rupted. 

"Joe  will  be  in  this  evening.  First  time  I've 
been  able  to  get  him  to  promise  to  come  here. 
He's  sore  yet,  Bob." 

"That's  all  right.  Better  be  liberal  with  him. 
I  always  liked  Joe  well  enough.  But  he's  sold 
out  so  often  in  politics  that  he's  a  little  risky,  after 
all.  Weren't  you  out  with  him  last  night?" 

Moore  laughed  admiringly.  So  Burroughs 
knew  of  a  drive  to  a  roadhouse  and  a  convivial 
night.  His  chief  kept  an  omniscient  eye  on  every- 
body with  whom  he  was  dealing. 

"Well,  yes.  I  thought  that  I'd  jolly  him  up  a 
little  without  any  hint  of  trying  to  get  his  vote. 
I  had  half  a  mind  to  commit  suicide  this  morning, 
but  my  head  was  so  sore  that  I  hated  to  shoot  a 
hole  in  it." 

Burroughs  grinned.  "Joe's  always  telling  of 
what  he's  done.  According  to  his  talk  he's  de- 
veloped the  State  from  cattle  to  copper — from 
sheep  to  sapphires.  A  man  who's  always  telling 


2o6 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

what  he's  done  isn't  doing  very  much  now.  I'll 
bet  he'll  be  the  easiest  in  the  bunch  if  you  tackle 
him  right." 

"Don't  be  too  sure.  A  man  that's  been  every- 
thing from  a  Populist  to  a  justice  of  the  peace  is 
likely  to  be  hard  to  convince.  Queer  how  Mc- 
Devitt  turned  up  this  winter,"  Moore  went  on, 
after  a  drink.  "Chaplain  of  the  House,  too !" 

"I  don't  much  like  that!" 

"Oh,  we  must  throw  something  overboard  to 
the  sharks,"  said  Moore,  carelessly.  "A  member 
asked  me  to  see  that  McDevitt  got  the  job,  and 
I  thought  it  an  easy  way  to  get  the  member — see? 
Quite  a  number  of  the  old  Whoop  Up  crowd  here 
this  winter." 

"Yes.    Got  Blair  yet?" 

"No.  He'll  be  the  toughest  nut  of  all.  He's 
hard  up,  but  he's  a  pretty  decent  sort  of  man 
these  days,  and  his  sister  has  considerable  influ- 
ence over  him.  Besides,  he  feels  in  duty  bound 
to  stick  to  Danvers — the  old  story  of  Danvers 
saving  his  sister's  life,  you  know." 

"I  suppose  so,"  admitted  Burroughs.  "Get  a 
woman  after  him." 

"I  have.  Mrs.  Latimer  is  interesting  him  in 
your  behalf.  But  the  idiot  has  lost  his  head  over 
her,  instead  of  taking  her  advice  and  voting  for 
you." 

"He's  a  fool!"  snarled  Burroughs,  remember- 


DEBAUCHING  A  LEGISLATURE  207 

ing  Eva's  dismissal  of  himself.  "I  thought  the 
time  would  come  when  she'd  be  anxious  to  get  my 
help — in  some  way!  But  get  Blair — get  him!" 
he  repeated.  "He'll  do  to  take  along  as  a  politi- 
cal exhibit.  I've  never  forgiven  him  for  squealing 
in  the  matter  of  that  whiskey  in  the  Whoop  Up 
Country.  Fix  it  so  his  change  of  face  will  smirch 
Eva  Latimer.  That'll  hurt  her  virtuous  and  law- 
upholding  husband  more  than  anything  I  can  do 
to  get  even  with  that  decision  in  re  Hall.  Offer 
him — anything  in  reason.  He's  probably  banking 
on  a  big  haul.  Give  it  to  him,  and  I'll  see  that 
his  sister  knows  that  he  was  bought  like  a  steer 
in  open  market.  Her  scorn  will  be  like  hell  for 
him.  I  can  see  that  Danvers  is  gone  on  her. 
She'll  send  him  flying  if  her  brother  gets  bit — 
mark  my  words.  Or,  rather,  Danvers  would 
hardly  want  to  marry  her — the  sister  of  a  bribe- 
taker!" 

"I  hate  to  touch  Charlie,  or  to  offer  him  more 
than  any  of  the  others,"  objected  Moore.  "I'll 
try  to  get  you  elected  without  him.  I  will  if  I 
can,  and  in  the  meantime  I  don't  give  a  hang  if 
Mrs.  Latimer's  reputation  is  scorched." 

"I  know  why  you  don't  want  to  touch  Blair. 
That  sister  of  his  is  what  you're  after.  Look  out 
for  Danvers  if  you  undertake  to  stick  your  brand 
on  her!  But  my  interests  must  come  first — re- 


208 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

member.  And  as  for  Eva "  Bill  let  no  smile 

indicate  his  mental  amusement 

Mr.  Burroughs  had  not  been  gone  long  before 
Senator  Hall  looked  into  the  hospitably  open  door 
of  the  outer  room. 

"You  here,  Bill?" 

"Yes.  Walk  right  in."  Moore  stepped  for- 
ward and  stood  aside  for  Hall  to  precede  him  to 
the  inner  room,  closing  and  locking  the  door. 
"We'll  not  be  interrupted  here.  I've  been  want- 
ing to  see  you  for  six  weeks — never  made  it  until 
last  night." 

After  a  little  talk  of  the  weather  and  of  the 
political  outlook,  Moore  thought  best  to  approach 
his  subject  boldly. 

"How  are  you  feeling  towards  Burroughs, 
Joe?" 

"Just  like  a  kitten — a  soft,  purry  kitten."  Hall 
was  heartily  metaphorical,  as  he  opened  his  pocket 
knife  mechanically.  "If  you  want  to  feel  my 
claws,  just  ask  me  to  vote  for  that  damn  thief! 
You'll  think  that  I  live  in  four  different  atmos- 
pheres. You  and  Bob  Burroughs  may  be  able  to 
buy  the  rest  of  the  Legislature,  but  you  can't  buy 
me — so  don't  ask  my  price !"  Senator  Hall  had 
thought  long  on  what  he  should  say  when  solicited 
by  the  Honorable  William,  and  he  had  his  bluster 
volubly  perfect.  "Any  man  but  Burroughs  may 


DEBAUCHING  A  LEGISLATURE  209 

go  to  Congress,  but  he  never  shall!"  He  con- 
tinued to  pare  his  nails. 

Moore  was  not  at  all  deceived.  He  had  heard 
men  talk  before,  and  he  detected  the  false  ring 
of  Hall's  words.  Herein  Joe  miscalculated.  He 
thought  to  deceive  a  man  steeped  in  conspiracy 
and  deceit.  Nevertheless,  Moore  was  politic,  and 
made  no  haste. 

"Why  not  forget  bygones,  Joe?  You  would 
have  done  the  same  thing  yourself  in  your  deal 
with  Burroughs  if  you  had  had  the  first  chance 
at  those  Easterners." 

"Would  I?"  snorted  Hall. 

"Isn't  there  any  inducement  that  we  can  offer 
you  to  support  Burroughs?" 

"None  whatever.  My  constituents  would  hang 
me  in  effigy  if  I  voted  for  him.  I  was  on  the 
stump  last  fall  and  went  on  record." 

"Your  constituents!  The  voters!  What  are 
they?  Cattle  driven  into  a  chute!  They  don't 
know  the  true  inwardness  of  State  politics.  There 
aren't  six  men  who  do." 

"Politics  must  be  purified,"  Hall  announced, 
solemnly. 

"That's  so,"  acquiesced  Moore.  "Every  poli- 
tician I  know,  nearly,  is  so  desirous  of  being  puri- 
fied that  he  steps  right  up  here,  as  though  this 
was  the  disinfecting  vat !  Our  legislators  seem  to 
think  that  Burroughs  is  the  Chief  Purifier,  and 


2io A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

that  I  am  the  one  who  cares  for  the  shorn  lambs !" 

"Well,  I  can't  change  now." 

"You're  mighty  conscientious.  If  you  had  been 
as  much  so  at  Fort  Macleod  you  probably  wouldn't 
have  been  run  out  of  the  police  for " 

"I'm  as  conscientious  as  most  office-holders," 
Hall  interrupted.  Something  in  the  twist  given 
the  words  inspired  Moore  with  renewed  courage 
to  press  his  point.  After  he  had  talked  earnestly 
for  several  moments,  his  guest  interrupted: 
"Where  is  Bob  to-night?  You  said  last  night  that 
he  would  be  here." 

"He's  instructing  the  conscientious  legislator." 

Hall  laughed,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
allowed  himself  to  say: 

"Of  course,  if  there's  any  money  going,  I  want 
to  get  my  share.  I'd  do  as  much  for  Burroughs' 
money  as  anybody." 

After  a  guarantee  of  good  faith  had  passed 
from  a  safe  to  his  pocket  he  left.  "What  do  I 
care  whether  Bob  Burroughs  goes  to  Congress  or 
goes  to  hell?"  he  muttered  delightedly,  as  he  felt 
the  roll  of  bills  in  his  pocket.  "I've  got  a  pricker 
coming  that  will  sting  his  rhinoceros  hide !  This 
money  ain't  half  what's  coming  to  me  from  that 
mining  deal;  take  it  all  in  all,  I'll  even  up  with 
him  before  the  session  closes.  Just  you  wait, 
Joe,"  he  apostrophized,  as  he  entered  the  eleva- 
tor; "just  you  wait  until  the  time  comes!" 


DANVERS'  DISCOURAGEMENT  211 




Dattvers*  Discouragement 


"G 


OOD  evening,  Senator!"  Danvers  was 
waiting  at  the  elevator  door  as  Hall 
stepped  through  it  on  the  ground 
floor. 

"Good  evening,  Senator,"  returned  Joe,  think- 
ing how  little  Danvers  had  changed  in  appearance 
since  he  first  came  to  Fort  Benton. 

The  Senator  from  Chouteau  County  took  the 
lift  to  the  third  floor.  He  went  to  the  doctor's 
room,  for  he  knew  that  his  old  friend  from  Fort 
Benton,  who  had  but  just  come  to  the  capital, 
would  be  waiting  for  the  evening  call  and  friendly 
smoke  on  the  first  day  of  his  arrival.  To-night 
the  younger  man  was  unusually  silent,  and  after 
the  first  greetings  nearly  an  hour  passed  before  a 


212 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

word  was  spoken.  But  the  doctor  felt  the  silence 
— pregnant  with  the  heart-ache  of  his  friend,  and 
at  last  he  spoke. 

"How  goes  it,  Phil?" 

"Pretty  heavy  luggage." 

"He'll  get  it?"    No  need  to  be  more  specific. 

"I'm  afraid  so,"  soberly.  "I  never  dreamed  it 
could  be  possible  to  mow  down  an  Assembly  as 
Burroughs  is  doing." 

"He  would  sell  his  soul  for  the  senatorship," 
affirmed  the  doctor,  "and  yet  he  pretends  that  he 
doesn't  want  the  office.  He  would  have  people 
think  that  he  is  in  mortal  fear  of  being  politically 
ravished,  and  all  the  while  he,  and  every  man  that 
he  can  control,  are  actively  engaged  in  promoting 
a  campaign  of  ravishment." 

"And  Bill  Moore  is  his  chief  procurer,"  added 
Danvers. 

"But  the  whole  Legislature  can't  be  bought." 

"Everyone!" 

"You  include  yourself  there,  Phil,"  smiled  the 
doctor.  "But  I  know  what  you  mean.  It's  damn- 
able !"  The  believer  in  mankind  felt  the  founda- 
tions of  the  State  totter. 

"I  did  not  mean  to  be  quite  so  bitter,  but  I  am 
sick  of  the  lack  of  principle  that  I  find  in  the  men 
sent  to  Helena.  Burroughs  has  a  long  string  of 
men  who  are  now  scattering  their  votes,  on  the 
pretext  that  our  Republican  caucuses  do  not 


DANVERS'  DISCOURAGEMENT  213 

pledge  them  clearly  to  any  one  candidate.  This 
split  in  the  party  is  bad  for  Burroughs,  of  course, 
and  he  is  not  only  trying  to  get  my  men  away 
from  the  Governor,  but  is  angling  for  members 
of  the  Democratic  party."  After  a  moment  he 
smiled.  "Of  course  we  are  sure  of  O'Dwyer!" 
He  then  named  several  others  who  could  be  de- 
pended upon  not  to  enter  Burroughs'  camp,  either 
by  reason  of  their  own  integrity  or  the  pledges 
they  had  given  to  other  candidates.  "So  many 
in  the  field  scatters  the  vote,"  he  continued,  "and 
that  gives  us  a  chance  to  work." 

"How  about  Hall?"  asked  the  doctor. 

"Senator  Hall  seems  safe.  He  is  one  enemy 
whom  Bob  cannot  buy.  I  never  saw  a  man  hold 
the  idea  of  revenge  as  Hall  does." 

"If  Joe  Hall  doesn't  vote  for  Burroughs  it  is 
the  first  time  that  he  ever  resisted  easy  money," 
quoth  the  doctor.  "However,  hate  will  make 
even  money  seem  of  small  account.  But  Hall 
will  do  some  dirty  trick,  one  of  these  days,  to  get 
even  on  that  mining  deal.  Those  two  are  a  good 
pair  to  draw  to." 

"As  politics  now  are  it  would  not  be  hard  to 
find  three  of  a  kind,"  added  Danvers. 

The  old  man  took  up  the  evening  paper,  con- 
taining the  list  of  the  legislators  and  their  city  ad- 
dresses. He  checked  off  the  names  as  he  read, 
and  presently  looked  up. 


214 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"As  far  as  we  can  tell  Burroughs  is  shy  several 
votes  for  a  majority." 

"Looks  that  way." 

"We  don't  know  who  Moore's  holding  back — 
worse  luck!  But  we  do  know  who  are  solid 
against  Burroughs.  By  the  way,  what's  Charlie 
Blair  up  to?" 

"Politically  or  personally?" 

"I  think  one  means  the  other  these  days,  ac- 
cording to  all  I  hear." 

"Possibly."  After  a  moment  Danvers  added: 
"Blair  has  promised  me  on  his  honor  not  to  vote 
for  Burroughs.  I  do  not  think  that  he  will  de- 
liberately go  back  on  his  word.  As  for — I  can't 
speak  of  it,  doctor!  Poor  Arthur!" 

"Eva's  not  a  bad  woman — she's  only  an  am- 
bitious fool,"  asserted  the  doctor,  touching  one 
of  the  sore  spots  in  Danvers'  aching  heart.  "I 
can  overlook  a  woman's  folly  if  it  is  the  result 
of  an  overwhelming  passion — some  women  are  as 
intense  as  men.  But  to  play  with  fire — while  she 

is  as  cold  as  ice — as  calculating  as  a  machine " 

The  speaker  made  a  gesture  of  disgust.  "Be  sure 
that  she  is  promised  something  she  thinks  worth 
her  while,  by  Bob  or  by  Moore,  for  her  sudden 
interest  in  politics  and — Charlie  Blair.  She  is  a 
good  catspaw.  I  thought  she  was  making  eyes 
at  Charlie  at  the  opera,  but  I  couldn't  believe  my 
own.  She  and  Moore  are  working  the  members 


DANVERS'  DISCOURAGEMENT  215 

of  this  Legislature  by  concerted  action,  or  I  am 
very  much  mistaken." 

"You  haven't  heard  any  open  talk  of  Mrs. 
Latimer — Arthur  would — I  should  fear  for  his 
reason — for  his  life — if  scandal " 

"Well,  I  can't  say  there  hasn't  been  any,"  com- 
promised the  doctor.  "But  there'll  be  more  if 
she  doesn't  turn  Blair  down  pretty  quick.  He's 
drinking,  too;  something  he  hasn't  done  since  his 
sister  came  back  from  school  to  live  with  him. 
He  could  always  stand  liquor  in  abnormal  quan- 
tities; but  he  can't  stand" — abruptly  he  blurted 
it  out — "first  Eva  knows  there  will  be  hell  to  pay 
— and  I  doubt  if  her  credit  is  good." 

"She  doesn't  care  for  him,  then?" 

"Nah!"  The  negative  was  drawn  out  con- 
temptuously. "All  she  wants  of  Charlie  is  his 
vote  for  Burroughs.  She  never  loved  but  one 
man  in  her  life."  A  glance  went  to  the  senator, 
but  he  did  not  apply  the  words. 

"Poor  Winifred!"  sighed  the  young  man.  The 
doctor  caught  the  baptismal  name. 

"Winifred's  a  plucky  woman.  I'll  wager  she 
knows  practically  every  move  being  made  in  all 
this  rotten  business — all,"  the  old  man  added 
significantly.  "Yet  you  would  never  mistrust  it 
to  see  her.  It  is  well  to  put  on  the  cheerful  face 
and  tone,  yet  when  in  trouble  is  it  best?  It  is 
deceiving  to  one's  best  friends,  robbing  them  of 


216 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  opportunity  to  extend  sympathy.  Winifred 
Blair  is  worrying  over  Charlie,  yet  she  keeps  her 
troubles  to  herself  and  cheats  her  friends  of  a 
just  privilege." 

"I  wish,"  began  Danvers,  then  closed  his  lips. 
No  one  should  see  his  heart. 

"I  wish  she  would  give  you  the  right  to  pro- 
tect her,"  said  the  doctor,  heartily.  "What  has 
come  between  you  two?  I  had  thought " 

"I  do  not  know,"  acknowledged  the  disconso- 
late lover.  "She  was  friendly.  We've  seen  each 
other  quite  a  good  deal.  I  thought  she  was  one  to 
understand.  I  cannot  talk  as  most  men  do — I  am 
aware  of  my  failing." 

His  eyes  were  more  eloquent  than  words,  as 
he  paused.  "And  now  she  hardly  speaks  to  me — 
makes  some  trivial  excuse  to  leave  me  with  Char- 
lie when  I  call;  or  if  he  is  not  there  she  pleads  an 
engagement.  You  have  noticed  how  Moore  has 
been  paying  her  marked  attention?  It  is  for  her 
to  choose " 

When  Danvers  began  again  it  was  of  another 
phase  of  his  trouble.  "Miss  Blair  has  doubtless 
heard  of  my  financial  loss,  caused  by  that  early 
snowstorm  and  later  rain,  which  crusted  the  snow 
until  my  cattle  were  almost  wiped  out.  My  fore- 
man wired  me  the  night  of  the  opera,  you  remem- 
ber. Those  that  were  not  frozen  were  starved  to 


DANVERS'  DISCOURAGEMENT  217 

death.  My  political  life  here  in  Helena  is  costing 
me  a  fortune." 

Danvers  rose  and  paced  the  floor.  "It  gives 
me  the  jigs,  even  to  think  of  those  cattle,"  he  burst 
out.  "Not  the  financial  loss,  you  understand,  but 
the  suffering  of  dumb  animals !" 

"You  did  all  you  could,  Phil." 

"Yes.  But  what  with  a  three  years'  drouth 
and  no  hay  in  the  country,  and  the  railroads 
blocked  so  that  no  feed  could  be  shipped  in,  even 
if  we  could  have  gotten  to  the  cattle  on  the  range 

— oh,  well "  The  cattleman  dropped  to  his 

chair  with  a  sigh  of  helplessness. 

The  doctor  took  a  new  turn. 

"I  have  known  you  for  fifteen  years  or  more, 
my  boy,  and  I  never  knew  you  to  be  jealous  be- 
fore, much  less  unjust." 

"I — unjust!"  Danvers  was  startled.  Never 
before  had  he  faced  such  accusations. 

"Yes,  you.  You  should  know  Winifred  Blair 
better  than  to  think  such  thoughts  as  you  are 
harboring." 

"My  experience  with  women  has  been  unfor- 
tunate, probably;  I  do  not  pretend  to  understand 
them — they  are  too  complex  for  me." 

"Tut,  tut !"  The  gentle  friend  tried  to  turn  the 
tide.  "Not  Winnie.  She  is  a  woman  to  trust." 

"But  how  can  she  have  anything  to  do  with 
Bill  Moore?  That  is  what  I  can't  get  over." 


218 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"You  shouldn't  speak  so  of  Moore.  It  shows 
a  spirit  I'm  sorry  to  see  you  cultivate.  Go  in  and 
win.  You  have  probably  told  Winifred  something 
of  your  standards  of  public  morality  and  the 
sacredness  of  the  ballot,  and  she  fears  that  Char- 
lie will  disgrace  both  himself  and  her.  She  per- 
haps fears  your  disgust  if " 

"She  is  mistaken  if  she  thinks  so  poorly  of  me. 
Her  brother's  conduct  could  never  change  my 
feeling  for  her;  rather,  pity  would  come  to  plead 
for  love.  Do  you  think  she  does  care  for  me?" 

"Do  I  ?  You  had  better  ask  her — not  go  tilting 
at  political  windmills  when  more  important  mat- 
ters should  be " 

"If  Charlie's  foolishness  is  the  only  thing  in 
my  way,  I'll  force  him  to  be  a  man  if  I  have  to 
gag  him  in  joint  assembly!"  cried  the  lover,  joy- 
ously. 

"What  transformations  love  will  work!"  sighed 
the  matchmaker  after  he  had  bidden  the  light- 
hearted  Danvers  good-night.  "Standing  practi- 
cally alone  against  the  might  of  Burroughs'  mil- 
lions— holding  his  scant  forces  by  sheer  force  of 
character,  yet  downed  by  the  mistaken  attitude  of 
a  mere  slip  of  a  girl!" 


A  FRONTIER  KNOCK 


219 


«^7\  Frontier  JQiocIC 


THE  next  afternoon  Winifred  lay  back  in  a 
low  chair  before  a  leaping  wood  fire. 
She  wanted  to  think,  to  puzzle  out  all  that 
was  taking  place  around  her.  She  recognized, 
yet  refused  to  accept  the  verdict  of  her  common 
sense.  She  was  no  unsophisticated  school  girl; 
she  was  a  woman  of  the  world.  The  social  and 
political  atmosphere  in  which  she  moved  seemed 
charged  with  dynamic  possibilities.  Her  closed 
eyes  suddenly  brimmed  with  tears.  Winifred  let 
them  fall  unheeded,  feeling  miserable  consolation 
in  her  self-pity,  as  women  will. 

Apart  from  the  senatorial  contest  lay  her  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  game  being  played  by  the 
scheming  Burroughs,  the  unscrupulous  Moore  and 


220 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  ambitious  Eva,  on  the  one  side,  and  her 
brother  on  the  other.  What  chance  had  Charlie 
against  such  a  combination?  Robert  Burroughs 
had  judged  truly;  Blair's  degradation  would  hurt 
Winifred  inexpressibly.  He  had  chuckled  as  he 
had  watched  the  growing  attachment  between  his 
brother-in-law  and  the  girl,  and  thought  of  his 
vow.  He  realized  that  here  was  a  way  to  bring 
vicarious  suffering  upon  the  man  whose  distinction 
had  first  roused  his  envy  and  whose  rectitude  had 
won  his  hatred. 

As  Winifred  groped  in  the  tangle  of  State  and 
private  intrigues  that  enmeshed  her,  the  fire 
burned  low  and  the  snapping  of  an  occasional 
spark  checked  and  soothed  until  her  mind  slipped 
into  more  peaceful  channels.  She  looked  about 
the  quiet  room.  The  firelight  threw  her  face  into 
relief  and  accentuated  the  faint  lines  of  pain  that 
had  come  during  the  last  few  weeks;  a  pensive 
touch  had  been  added  to  a  countenance  that  com- 
bined loveliness  with  strength.  The  yellow  puff- 
ball  in  the  gilded  cage  by  the  window  stirred 
drowsily,  with  a  faint,  comforting  chirp.  The 
white  and  gold  of  blossoming  narcissi,  rising  from 
their  sheaths  of  green,  gleamed  purely  from  a 
tabouret,  and  their  incense  filled  the  room. 

Presently  she  took  up  events  of  recent  occur- 
rence with  clearer  mind.  She  had  probably  exag- 
gerated the  seeming  coherence  of  disconnected 


A  FRONTIER  KNOCK  221 

happenings.  She  longed  to  think  so.  Eva  took 
great  interest  in  the  senatorial  contest.  Should 
that  be  an  indictment?  She  craved  excitement — 
expected  to  hold  the  stage  in  any  episode;  her 
position  as  the  wife  of  an  eminent  jurist  gave  her 
a  certain  prestige  in  the  political  arena  where 
pretty  women  were  not  unwelcome.  The  power 
they  wielded,  whether  consciously  or  not,  was 
almost  unlimited — Winifred  had  seen  enough  of 
the  average  legislator  to  appreciate  that  fact. 

In  thinking  it  over,  Winifred  admitted  that 
Mrs.  Latimer  had  known  for  many  years  Mr. 
Burroughs,  Mr.  Moore,  Mr.  Danvers  and  her 
brother  Charlie — four  of  the  men  who  were  play- 
ing their  part  in  the  drama  fast  drawing  to  its 
climax.  What  cause  for  apprehension  in  this? 
Ever  since  the  Latimers'  marriage  their  home  had 
been  a  rendezvous  for  the  politicians  of  the  State 
— at  least,  of  Arthur's  party.  Surely  Mrs.  Lati- 
mer could  receive  the  same  guests,  even  if  the 
judge  was  away — even  if  some  among  her  satel- 
lites were  men  whose  reputations  excluded  them 
from  all  but  the  very  smartest  set.  If  she  talked 
politics  she  did  so  in  the  pursuit  of  her  affirmed 
desire  to  learn  of  politics  at  first  hand.  It  could 
not  be  that  she  would  descend  to  the  plane  of  a 
lobbyist!  But  what  would  Judge  Latimer  think 
of  this  surprising  fervor?  He  would  not  care  to 
express  himself  as  opposed  to  Burroughs.  Did 


222 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

not  Eva  care  for  her  husband's  opinions — for  his 
reputation?  Winifred  did  not  feel  called  upon  to 
judge  her  friend;  she  was  only  trying  to  account 
for  the  circumstantial  evidence  accumulating 
against  Eva. 

When  the  girl  turned  her  thoughts  to  her 
brother,  she  was  sucked  into  a  whirling  mael- 
strom. The  doctor's  opinion  of  her  had  been 
correct.  She  knew  her  brother  and  his  fluctuating 
fortunes  as  only  a  sister  of  infinite  love  and  infinite 
tact  could  know.  But  she  never  had  dreamed  that 
he  could  be  enmeshed  by  the  wiles  of  the  wife  of 
his  friend.  The  crux  of  the  whole  matter  lay  in 
the  possibility  of  saving  him,  not  only  from  Eva's 
hypnotic  charm,  but  from  the  less  intricate  and 
more  thinly  concealed  machinations  of  Mr. 
Moore.  Winifred  felt  her  first  smart  of  anger 
revive  toward  Mrs.  Latimer  as  she  recalled  how 
ingenuously  Charlie  had  been  led  to  the  jugger- 
naut of  Burroughs'  ambition. 

It  was  horrible — horrible !  Afresh  came  the 
intolerable  loathing  of  it  all — this  overshadowing 
political  machine,  that  could  scatter  ruin  in  its 
wake  even  if  it  did  not  obtain  control. 

Winifred  knew  that  Danvers  was  studying 
every  move  and  checkmating  where  he  could.  She 
felt  that  if  possible  he  would  prevent  this  crime 
of  buying  a  United  States  senatorship.  He  would 
protect  Charlie.  Through  the  doctor  she  learned 


A  FRONTIER  KNOCK 223 

how  strong  a  bulwark  of  the  State  the  senator 
from  Chouteau  County  was  proving  to  be.  She 
gloried  in  these  recitals,  and  longed  to  confide  in 
her  old  friend,  but  always  the  woman's  reticence 
withheld  her. 

Presently  a  tap  came  at  the  door,  and  Mrs. 
Latimer  appeared  on  Winifred's  invitation  to 
enter. 

"How  fortunate,"  she  said,  "that  you  came  to 
the  hotel  for  the  winter!  It's  not  only  more  con- 
venient for  you  and  Charlie,  but  for  me.  Would 
you  sit  by  baby  for  a  half  hour,  Winnie,  dear?" 
she  entreated.  "The  nurse  is  out,  and  I  must  run 
downtown  before  six." 

"Yes,  indeed!    I'd  love  to." 

They  passed  into  the  Latimers'  apartments,  and 
when  Eva  finally  left,  Winifred  sat  down  beside 
the  crib  where  the  child  slept.  Heavy  portieres 
hung  behind  her,  evidently  covering  the  double 
doors  leading  into  other  rooms  beyond.  In  the 
stillness  she  heard  a  voice. 

"I  tell  you  I  don't  want  any  paltry  thousand 
dollars!  I  know  of  three  men  who've  got  five 
thousand.  You  promised "  The  rest  was  in- 
distinct. A  soothing  voice  followed  that  Wini- 
fred recognized;  then:  "I  don't  care  a  damn  if 
everybody  can  hear.  I  want  what  you  promised 

if  I  vote  for "  The  speaker  must  have 

walked  from  the  dividing  wall,  for  the  girl  heard 


224 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

no  more.  After  a  time  an  almost  inaudible 
scratch,  scratch  came  from  behind  the  draperies. 
Winifred  rose  in  dismay,  throwing  down  the  book 
she  was  reading.  Who  was  seeking  entrance 
through  this  private  door?  It  was  evidently  a 
preconcerted  signal,  for  it  came  again,  impa- 
tiently; then  cautious  footsteps  retreated.  Wini- 
fred choked  the  shudder  that  swept  over  her.  Mr. 
Burroughs'  headquarters  took  all  the  rooms  on 
that  side  of  the  hall  except  those  occupied  by 
Judge  Latimer  and  his  family.  She  had  heard 
the  unmistakable  voice  of  Mr.  Moore.  Had  he 
used  that  frontier  knock — a  scratch  on  the  door 
as  he  might  scratch  on  the  flap  of  a  tent? 

In  a  frenzy  the  girl  walked  through  the  suite. 

"I  will  not  believe — I  will  not!"  she  said  to 
herself.  "I  do  not  understand;  but  it  is  all  right 
— I'm  sure  it  is.  I'll  stand  by  Eva — she  shall  not 
be  talked  about — shall  not  do  foolish  things.  Oh, 
this  contest!  And  poor  Judge  Latimer!"  Her 
thoughts  raced  on.  "How  much  worse  if  some- 
one else  had  heard  that  signal !  But  it  meant 
nothing — of  course,  it  meant  nothing!" 

She  smiled,  with  a  conscious  effort,  when  Mrs. 
Latimer  returned,  with  apologies  for  delay;  and 
resolved  again  not  to  abandon  Eva  to  the  in- 
nuendos  that  were  already  circulating. 

"Shall  we  go  down  to  dinner  together,  Eva?" 


A  FRONTIER  KNOCK 225 

she  asked,  gently.  "I'm  alone  to-night;  Charlie 
is  dining  at  the  club." 

"Thank  you,  dear.  I  believe  I'll  have  my  din- 
ner sent  up.  Thank  you  so  much !" 

After  her  lonely  meal  Winifred  remembered 
her  unfinished  book,  and  thought  to  get  it  as  she 
stepped  from  the  elevator.  She  knocked  lightly 
at  Mrs.  Latimer's  door.  She  heard  a  faint  rustle 
inside,  then  all  was  still.  Again  she  gave  a  soft, 
playful  battering  of  open  palms  on  the  panels; 
then  she  fled  to  her  own  apartments,  and  flung 
herself  face  downward  on  the  pillowed  couch, 
weeping  as  though  her  heart  would  break. 


226 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


_ 

Wheels  within  Wheels 


ON  the  other  side  of  the  closed  door  stood 
Eva  Latimer,  lips  parted,  hands  clasped 
on  her  breast  in  terror. 

The  Honorable  William  Moore  came  from  be- 
tween the  portieres  over  the  door  which  he  had 
used  for  entrance  from  Burroughs'  apartments 
into  the  Latimer  suite. 

"That's  just  like  a  woman!"  he  grumbled,  as 
he  returned  to  the  Morris  chair.  "Fly  to  open  a 
door!" 

"But  I  didn't  open  it!" 

"No,  but  you  meant  to,"  severely. 

"I  was  frightened,"  pleaded  Eva. 

"No,  you  were  not,"  contradicted  Moore. 
"You  wanted  to  get  that  door  open.  It  wasn't 
necessary  that  it  be  opened  at  once.  You  shculd 


WHEELS  WITHIN  WHEELS 227 

have  given  me  time  to  get  out  of  here  into  those 
rooms  that  Burroughs  reserved  for  just  such 
emergencies.  It  would  never  do  for  me  to  be 
found  here.  But,  no !  That  door  must  be  opened ! 
I've  noticed  that  trait  in  other  women.  They 
don't  reason;  they  don't  think.  But  they  must 
have  a  door  opened  the  moment  there  is  a  knock." 

"It  might  have  been  Winnie.  After  you  told 
me  that  you  gave  our  signal — that  you  wanted  to 
go  over  this  list  before  dinner — I've  been  sick 
with  fear  that  she  heard  your  scratch.  But  evi- 
dently she  didn't,  for  she  asked  no  questions  when 
I  returned.  I  don't  want  her  to  suspect  anything. 
I  never  wanted  you  to  come  through  those  con- 
necting doors,  anyway.  Why  not  come  openly,  as 
everyone  else  does?" 

"I  tell  you  it  would  never  do !"  angrily.  "Miss 
Blair  had  better  suspect — than  know,"  grimly. 
"What  people  don't  see  they  can't  prove." 

"It  might  have  been  Arthur,"  still  seeking  justi- 
fication. 

"Well,  it  wasn't,"  replied  the  political  manager, 
coolly.  "Besides,  he  has  a  latch-key,  and  we 
should  have  heard  its  click.  Now,  let's  get  to 
work.  I've  got  a  dinner  engagement  with  Charlie 
Blair  to-night  at  eight-thirty.  Here's  the  list. 
Let's  check  up." 

The  Honorable  was  very  methodical,  very  sys- 
tematic. He  called  off  senators  and  representa- 


228 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

tives  in  alphabetical  order,  and  checked  or  drew 
a  line  through  their  names  as  Eva  told  of  her 
efforts  in  Burroughs'  behalf. 

"How  do  you  do  it?"  asked  the  man  with  ad- 
miration, as  she  reported  that  one  particularly 
obdurate  senator,  too  rich  to  be  influenced  by 
money,  had  promised  his  vote. 

"I  told  him  frankly  that  it  was  a  personal  af- 
fair," admitted  the  fair  lobbyist  "He  knows 
women  well  enough  to  understand  why  I  have 
never  been  satisfied  to  live  in  this  little  hill 
city " 

"And  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  see  that  your 
brilliancy  lighted  wider  domains — I  see."  Moore 
finished  the  sentence  to  suit  himself. 

"He  was  very  nice  about  it,"  returned  Eva, 
haughtily.  "He  thinks  that  Arthur  should  have 
some  recognition  from  the  government  for  all  that 
he  has  done  for  the  party;  and  he  added  that 
Arthur  was  too  big  a  legal  light  to  be  eclipsed  by 
the  shadow  of  Mount  Helena."  She  paused,  evi- 
dently hesitating  to  speak  further;  "Can't  you 
get  the  others  on  the  list  yourself?  I'm  getting 

tired  of "  She  was  shaken  by  the  unexpected 

knock;  suddenly,  but  too  late,  she  was  afraid  of 
what  her  husband  would  think — would  say.  •  Her 
aspirations  seemed  of  small  account  after  that  tap 
that  could  not  be  answered. 

"Get    Charlie    Blair's   promise,    and   we'll    be 


WHEELS  WITHIN  WHEELS 229 

satisfied,"  said  Moore,  not  unkindly.  "You  have 
done  very  well." 

"Will  Mr.  Burroughs  keep  his  promise?  He 

knows  that  I "  Eva  could  not  speak  to  Moore 

of  her  fear  of  the  man  whose  money  she  would 
accept. 

"Burroughs  is  all  right.  Words  don't  count, 
these  days;  it's  money  that  turns  the  trick." 

"But  I  want  more  than  money.  I  want  that 
place  for  Arthur." 

"My  dear  lady,"  urbane  William  rose  and 
bowed.  "If  Robert  Burroughs  is  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  the  judge  shall  be  Minister 
to  Berlin.  It  is  practically  arranged  already. 
Bob's  a  big  man  in  his  party.  What  he  asks  for 
he'll  get,  never  you  fear.  That  is — in  Washing- 
ton." 

"I'm  glad  to  be  assured."  Mrs.  Latimer  inti- 
mated by  a  look  that  the  interview  was  over,  and 
rose.  But  Moore  did  not  choose  to  go. 

"When  do  you  think  that  you  can  get  Senator 
Blair?  Heaven  knows  you've  spent  more  time  on 
him  than  on  all  the  rest  put  together." 

"I  begin  to  wish  that  I  had  never  seen  Charlie 
Blair,"  petulantly. 

"Oh-h!  It's  that  way,  eh?  He's  getting  a 
little— a  lit " 

"Don't  you  dare!"  flashed  Mrs.  Latimer. 
"You  promised  to  ask  no  questions." 


230 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Pardon  me.  I  said  I  didn't  care  what  means 
you  used,"  corrected  Moore,  with  delicate  empha- 
sis. He  added,  reflectively:  "Blair  has  always 
been  something  of  a  recluse ;  but  I've  noticed  that 
when  a  Puritan  once  feels  a  little  of  the  warmth 
of  the  devil's  presence  that  he's  rather  loath  to 
step  out  into  the  cold  again."  The  look  of  anger 
from  Mrs.  Latimer  made  him  change  both  tone 
and  words.  "We  have  depended  on  you  to  get 
Charlie,"  he  said,  reproachfully.  "I  never  wanted 
to  tackle  him.  You  know  how  it  is?  I've  never 
had  but  one  weakness " 

"Yes.  She  was  here  this  afternoon  when  you 
signaled,"  interrupted  Eva,  glad  to  repay  him  in 
ever  so  little  for  his  insult.  "What  a  pity  that 
you  could  not  have  known  it.  You  might  have 
come  in." 

"Thank  God  I  didn't!" 

"Winifred  is  too  good  for  you.  Senator  Dan- 
vers  is  the  sort  she  will  marry." 

Not  relishing  the  information,  Moore  turned 
to  go.  But  he  had  one  more  sting.  "It'll  be 
pretty  hard  for  you  to  see  Danvers  married,  won't 
it?"  Then,  satisfied  to  see  the  quick  flush  on 
Eva's  cheeks,  he  added  casually:  "I'll  talk  with 
Blair  to-night.  You  needn't  bother  with  him  fur- 
ther." He  knew  how  to  frighten  the  woman.  It 
was  understood  that  she  must  follow  instructions 
or  receive  no  pay. 


231 


"Give  me  one  more  chance,"  begged  Eva, 
trembling. 

As  Mr.  Moore  walked  briskly  toward  the  club 
where  he  was  to  have  dinner  with  Blair  he 
thought  of  all  that  underlay  this  winter's  work, 
and  it  seemed  but  a  continuance  of  the  days  of 
fur  and  whiskey  smuggling  in  the  Whoop  Up 
Country.  It  was  a  series  of  wheels  within  wheels 
— this  work  of  electing  a  man  to  Congress;  and 
the  man's  soul  reveled  in  the  intrigue  of  it.  He 
was  quite  content  to  be  the  one  to  superintend 
their  revolutions  and  to  watch  the  havoc  which 
they  might  cause.  Burroughs'  vaulting  ambition 
was  the  greatest  need  of  all,  but  revolving  around 
it  were  the  triple,  lesser  desires  of  the  ex-trader; 
of  wreaking  vengeance  on  Judge  Latimer  through 
his  wife's  folly;  of  causing  Charlie  Blair's  down- 
fall, to  repay  the  old  grudge  of  the  Queen's  evi- 
dence; and  of  wounding  the  hated  Danvers 
through  his  friends,  as  well  as  separating  him 
from  Winifred. 

And  now  but  one  vote  was  needed  to  give  Bur- 
roughs his  heart's  desire.  Moore  had  not  told 
Eva  this.  But  if  Charlie  could  be  secured  to- 
night, to-morrow  or  the  next  day  he  would  give 
the  signal,  and  the  men,  bought  but  not  yet  de- 
livered, would  vote  for  Burroughs — and  the  bat- 
tle be  won !  Oh,  it  was  glorious !  Bob  was  lucky. 
How  often  he  had  said  it  of  himself.  Yet  sudden 


232 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

fear  came.  A  certain  Corsican  had  thought  that 
he  was  the  darling  of  the  gods,  and  confused  his 
luck  with  destiny.  Had  Burroughs  made  the  same 
mistake?  Certainly  not.  Moore's  habitual  con- 
fidence returned  manifold.  The  opposition  was 
divided  among  too  many  men  to  amount  to  any- 
thing more  than  to  keep  Burroughs  in  uncertainty, 
and  no  stretching  of  his  imagination  could  con- 
ceive any  one  man  fusing  their  warring  elements. 
Moore  already  saw  his  winter's  work  crowned 
with  success. 

Blair  was  waiting  on  the  club  steps  for  his  host, 
and  the  dinner  was  ready.  They  were  unusually 
silent  until  the  black  coffee  and  the  cigars  were 
brought.  Then  Moore  leaned  forward  to  reach 
the  cognac  for  his  coffee  and  asked: 

"How  much  does  it  cost  you  a  year  to  live, 
Charlie?  Expenses  run  pretty  high?" 

The  questions  were  unexpected.  Blair  knew 
the  motive  of  his  host  in  giving  a  dinner,  for 
Moore  seldom  entertained  without  an  underlying 
reason.  Certainly  he  never  spent  his  own  or  Bur- 
roughs' money  without  expecting  fair  returns. 
But  Charlie  had  thought  the  attack  would  be  more 
direct.  Therefore  he  answered  lightly: 

"I  might  reply  as  a  colored  man  did  who  was 
asked  how  little  he  could  live  on.  'I  live  and 
work  on  three  cents'  worth  of  peanuts  a  day,  but 
I'm  a  little  hungry  sometimes.' ' 


WHEELS  WITHIN  WHEELS 233 

Mr.  Moore  smiled  perfunctorily.  He  had  no 
sense  of  humor. 

"What  have  you  been  doing  all  summer?" 

"Prospecting." 

"Prospecting  is  like  trying  to  raise  money  with- 
out security.  Neither  pans  out." 

"Precious  little  you  know  about  either,"  re- 
torted Blair. 

"You're  a  poor  man,"  said  Moore,  abruptly. 
The  announcement  struck  the  senator  as  super- 
fluous. He  nodded. 

"I  am  familiar  with  the  fact." 

The  Honorable  William  resolved  to  strike. 
He  had  never  thought  to  speak  to  Charlie,  but 
if  Mrs.  Latimer  could  not  bring  him  to  the  point 
he  would  have  to  do  it  himself.  One  more  mem- 
ber must  be  secured,  and  Blair  was  the  only  possi- 
ble man.  The  other  legislators  who  had  not  al- 
ready succumbed  seemed  impregnable. 

Moore  became  impatient  as  he  remembered 
how  easy  it  had  seemed  at  first  to  secure  enough 
votes  to  elect  his  chief. 

"Charlie,"  he  began,  clearing  his  throat,  "we 
want  you  in  this  fight  we  are  making,  and  we 
want  you  hard.  We  are  going  to  win.  We  are 
going  to  get  the  votes;  if  we  don't  get  them  one 
way,  we're  going  to  get  them  another." 

"So  I've  understood." 

The  host  felt  on  unstable  ground  at  the  non- 


234 


committal  answer,  but  he  boldly  pushed  ahead. 
No  time  to  fear  quicksands — the  end  of  the  ses- 
sion was  too  near!  He  dwelt  on  the  good  that 
Burroughs  could  do  the  State  if  he  went  to  Con- 
gress, and  finally  repeated : 

"Bob's  going  to  be  elected.  He's  gaining  votes 
every  day.  But  we  need  to  get  the  thing  over 
with,  and — it  will  be  to  your  financial  interest  to 
work  with  us."  Moore  played  nervously  with  his 
teaspoon. 

Senator  Blair  watched  his  smoke  rings  fade, 
and  made  no  response.  Both  men  were  silent  for 
a  time.  Moore  occupied  himself  by  placing,  with 
infinite  exactness,  three  cubes  of  sugar  on  his 
spoon  and  pouring  brandy  over  them.  When  the 
liquor  was  fired  the  blue  flame  lighted  his  face 
weirdly.  So  might  Mephlstopheles  have  looked 
when  tempting  Faust.  He  was  thinking  that 
Blair  had  always  been  a  failure,  and  always  would 
be — slow,  methodical,  too  dull  to  see  his  best  in- 
terests. He  was  a  plodder,  content  with  moderate 
means,  when  infinite  opportunities  in  Montana 
waited  a  man's  grasp — if  he  was  sharp  enough. 

But  silent  Charlie  was  thinking  that  his  oppor- 
tunity had  come.  During  the  past  weeks  he  had 
observed,  with  his  usual  calm,  the  trend  of  events. 
He  had  been  inclined  to  promise  Mrs.  Latimer 
the  boon  she  asked,  for  he  would  be  glad  to  pro- 
mote Judge  Latimer's  advancement  (remember- 


WHEELS  WITHIN  WHEELS 235 

ing  the  fine  that  Latimer  had  paid  at  Fort  Mac- 
leod),  even  if  in  doing  so  he  should  aid  the  man 
he  hated  for  stealing  his  squaw.  But  Charlie  was 
beginning  to  forget  the  judge's  kindness  in  his 
passion  for  the  judge's  wife.  He  realized  that 
as  soon  as  he  cast  his  vote  for  Burroughs  all  the 
advances  and  marks  of  favor  which  stamp  a 
lobbyist  of  the  sex  without  a  franchise  would  be 
a  thing  of  the  past — an  episode  to  be  forgotten. 
He  had  quite  lost  sight  of  the  commandment, 
"Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife."  In- 
stead, he  was  dreaming  over  the  fact  of  a  possible 
possession. 

Knowing  too  well  the  paucity  of  his  bank  ac- 
count, he  was  tempted  to  play  both  sides — to  make 
a  big  strike  with  Moore,  and  to  press  his  half- 
repulsed,  half-accepted  passion  until  Eva  Latimer 
should  consent  to  his  plans  for  the  future.  To 
sum  the  matter  up:  He  meant  to  get  more  than 
anyone  else  from  this  business  of  electing  a  United 
States  senator.  Never  mind  Winifred.  The  lure 
of  inviting  eyes  had  so  completely  ensnared  him 
that  during  these  days  of  intrigue  he  had  almost 
forgotten  the  existence  of  his  sister  in  the  alter- 
nate intoxication  of  Eva's  companionship  and  the 
less  dangerous  one  of  liquor. 

The  host  grew  impatient  as  his  guest  made  no 
effort  to  reopen  the  conversation.  He  drank  his 
coffee  with  a  jerk  and  drew  an  envelope  from  his 


236 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

pocket.  It  was  stuffed  with  bills,  and  a  torn  cor- 
ner showed  the  figures  "1000."  Moore  pulled  it 
out  and  threw  it  across  the  table.  "There ! 
That's  what  Burroughs  and  I  do  business  with," 
he  exclaimed.  "  'Tisn't  so  heavy  as  gold,  nor  as 
pretty;  but  it's  a  pretty  good  substitute.  It's  not 
intended  to  influence  your  vote,"  he  hastened  to 
add,  as  he  noted  the  senator's  expression;  "it  just 
shows  you  that  my  feelings  are  agreeable  toward 
you — and  that  pretty  sister  of  yours." 

"Leave  my  sister  out  of  it,  please,"  commanded 
Blair,  with  dignity.  "I  can't  use  a  thousand-dollar 
bank  note.  I'm  not  in  the  habit  of  flashing  bills 
of  that  denomination." 

"You  will  be  if  you  tie  to  us,"  suggested  the 
tempter.  "Thousand-dollar  bills  will  be  as  com- 
mon in  Helena  in  a  few  days  as  nickels  in  a  con- 
tribution box.  I'm  about  out  of  'em  myself,  but 
the  old  man's  bringing  in  a  stack  to-night.  They 
come  in  right  handy  for  contingent  expenses." 

"I  suppose  so,"  assented  Blair,  pocketing  the 
money  with  a  fine  air  of  preoccupation  that  made 
the  Honorable  William  smile  the  smile  of  the 
canary-nourished  cat.  "If  there's  any  money  go- 
ing I'd  like  to  get  my  share  of  it,  of  course,  if  it 
could  be  done  without  my  sister  knowing  it.  But 
I'll  not  vote  for  Burroughs  until  the  last  one. 
Perhaps  then  I'll  see  about  changing  if  you  are 
sure  that  you  have  a  majority." 


WHEELS  WITHIN  WHEELS 237 

Moore  rapidly  ran  over  a  list  of  names.  "Will 
that  satisfy  you?"  he  demanded.  "You  see,  I 
trust  you.  Every  man  I  have  named  will  vote  for 
Burroughs  whenever  I  say  so.  I  may  never  call 
on  them  all — I  won't  unless  I  have  to.  But" — 
the  pause  was  purposely  impressive — "they  are  to 
have  their  money  whether  they  are  called  upon  or 
not,  and  so  will  you,  provided  that  Burroughs  is 
elected." 

"You'll  never  make  me  believe  that  Joe  Hall 
can  be  bought — not  until  I  hear  him  give  his  vote 
for  Robert  Burroughs.  I  notice  you  have  him 
listed.  He  hates  Bob  more  than  I  do,  and  that's 
saying  a  good  deal." 

"He  was  the  easiest  one  of  the  whole  bunch. 
He  was  the  cheapest,  and  he's  afraid  he  won't 
earn  his  money." 

"Does  Burroughs  sanction  all  this?"  Senator 
Blair  was  amazed,  not  so  much  at  the  men  bought 
as  at  the  sum  total  that  must  have  been  expended. 
Why  was  Burroughs  so  anxious  to  go  to  Con- 
gress? He  did  not  need  the  money  that  was 
popularly  supposed  to  accrue  to  senators  in  Wash- 
ington from  land  grants,  timber  lands  and  other 
large  steals;  he  had  millions  already. 

"Well,  he's  putting  up  the  dough,  but  I  don't 
trouble  him  with  all  the  minor  details,"  admitted 
Moore. 


238 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Bob's  not  the  only  one  who's  offering  good 
money  for  votes,"  said  Blair. 

"Who  has  approached  you?" 

"That's  like  asking  who  yelled  fire  at  a  theater. 
There  are  some  seven  candidates,  and  a  thousand 
workers — I  can't  name  them  all." 

"We  expect  to  pay  every  member  who  votes  for 
Burroughs — of  his  own  party  or  not.  The  man 
who  votes  for  him  without  being  paid  is  a  fool." 

"Might  as  well  have  a  red  flag  of  auction 
placed  on  the  speaker's  desk."  Senator  Blair  was 
inclined  to  moralize. 

"Money  is  a  legitimate  source  of  influence  in  a 
Legislature."  Moore  was  on  the  defensive. 

"I  judge  that  you  think  so,  if  no  one  else.  But, 
see  here!  I  can't  vote  for  Burroughs,  any  way 
I  see  it!"  (Moore  thought  of  his  vanished  thou- 
sand-dollar bill!)  "I've  promised  Danvers  to 
vote  for  the  Governor.  My  friendship  for  Phil — 
you  know  he  saved  my  sister's  life " 

"Friendship  be  damned !  What  difference  does 
it  make  when  you  can  get  cash  and  get  it  easy? 
Say!"  Moore  leaned  forward  in  his  earnestness. 
"If  you've  been  approached  before,  let  me  get  my 
work  in."  He  held  up  ten  fingers  as  indicative  of 
what  he  would  pay. 

"Ten  thousand  dollars  doesn't  make  much  of  a 
stir  in  Montana,"  spoke  Blair,  scornfully. 


WHEELS  WITHIN  WHEELS 239 

"Fifteen,  then!"  The  senator's  eyes  narrowed. 
"Twenty?  Come,  now!  How's  that?  Bur- 
roughs will  pay  it.  No  one  else  has  got  that, 
Charlie." 

"If  Burroughs  is  good  for  twenty  thousand, 
he's  good  for  more." 

"How  much  do  you  want?  Spit  it  out!"  The 
briber  was  disgusted.  This  was  not  the  Blair 
whom  he  had  known  in  Fort  Benton  days. 

"I'm  not  soliciting  nor  making  a  proposition. 
But  if  my  vote  is  worth  anything  it's  worth 
twenty-five  thousand — yes,  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars!" Blair,  for  the  first  time,  looked  Bur- 
roughs' manager  in  the  eye.  If  he  got  that  sum 
he  could  leave  Montana — and  not  alone ! 

"Are  you  mad?"  Moore  was  aghast.  Even 
his  own  rapacity  had  not  thought  to  hold  up  Bur- 
roughs for  such  a  sum.  Thirty  thousand  dollars 
for  speaking  a  man's  name  in  joint  assembly! 
Thus  he  interpreted  selling  a  vote. 

"No,  I'm  not  mad.  But  that  is  my  price." 
Blair  also  rose,  unexpectedly  committed  to  a  fixed 
statement. 

"You'll  never  get  it !"  roared  Moore.  "I'll  see 
you  damned  first!  We'll  find  others  who  aren't 
so  high-priced !  You  have  over-reached  this  time, 
Charlie  Blair!"  And  they  parted  in  unfriendly 
fashion. 


240 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

The  next  day  the  Honorable  Mr.  Moore  noti- 
fied Mrs.  Latimer  that  all  she  had  done  for  Mr. 
Burroughs  would  avail  nothing  if  she  failed  to 
secure  the  vote  of  Senator  Blair. 


THE  CHINESE  LEGEND 


241 


The  Chinese  Lie/genet- 


"W 


ELL,  well,  well!  What  does  this 
mean?"  The  doctor  looked  in 
amazement  at  Miss  Blair  as  she 
opened  the  door  to  his  rap,  the  same  evening  that 
Moore  gave  his  dinner  to  her  brother.  Traces  of 
tears  were  to  be  seen;  indeed,  more  tears  seemed 
ready  to  fall,  despite  her  effort  to  restrain  them. 
"Come  right  in,  doctor!"  Winifred  made  no 
pretense  of  answering  his  question,  but  busily  en- 
gaged herself  in  pulling  the  easiest  chair  to  the 
cheerful  grate  fire.  "I  believe  that  I  am  more 
glad  to  see  you  than  anyone  else  in  the  world," 
she  added,  affectionately,  as  she  motioned  her 
caller  to  the  comfortable  corner.  "Now  we'll  have 
a  nice,  long,  cozy  evening." 

"What  does  this  mean?"  repeated  the  doctor, 


242 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

with  the  privilege  of  friendship,  not  to  be  put  off. 

"You  should  know  better  than  to  ask  a  woman 
why  her  eyes  are  red — it  isn't  polite !  Are  mine 
very  red?"  she  asked,  ruefully.  Before  he  could 
answer:  "Let  us  talk  of  Fort  Benton,  and  of 
what  good  times  we'll  have  when  we  are  there 
again  to  live  happy  ever  after.  Really,  I  mean 
it,"  she  said,  earnestly,  seeing  his  questioning 
face.  "I  want  to  forget — everything  but  Fort 
Benton." 

Still  her  visitor  looked  at  her  keenly,  until  she 
sat  silent  under  his  scrutiny.  He  was  not  de- 
ceived. Nevertheless  he  humored  her  for  the  mo- 
ment, knowing  that  she  was  no  match  for  his 
astuteness  when  the  time  came  to  probe  her  hurt. 

"Fort  Benton,  eh?  You  know  the  weak  spot 
of  the  old  doctor,  you  'rastical',"  whimsically. 
Then,  more  seriously:  "I,  too,  wish  we  were 
there.  Like  you,  I  am  sick  of  Helena.  We  were 
all  happier,  better  off,  in  the  little  old  trading- 
post — before — the  railroads  came."  He  ascribed 
all  evils  to  the  course  of  empire  as  exemplified  in 
the  steel  rails  of  commerce.  "The  Latimers,  the 
Burroughs,  the  Halls,  Bill  Moore,  you  and  Char- 
lie— every  one  of  you  moved  away.  Phil  and  I 
are  the  only  ones  left;  and  since  he  is  in  the  Legis- 
lature I  spend  almost  as  much  time  in  Helena  as 
at  Fort  Benton." 

"There's  Mr.  O'Dwyer." 


THE  CHINESE  LEGEND 243 

"I  forgot  him.  Yes,  O'Dwyer  stays  near  Dan- 
vers — he  left  the  Police  to  go  to  him,  you  know." 
As  he  looked  around  the  room  he  asked,  "Where's 
Charlie  to-night?" 

"He's  dining  with  Mr.  Moore  at  the  club." 

"With  Moore?"  The  doctor,  surprised,  re- 
peated her  words. 

"Yes.    I — didn't  know — they  weren't  friends." 

Something  in  her  hesitation  gave  her  visitor  an 
opportunity  to  ask:  "You  do  not  care  very  much 
for  the  Honorable  William?" 

"No,  I  do  not!"  came  the  quick  response. 

"Yet  he  is  accounted  quite  a  ladies'  man;  and," 
tentatively,  "I  can  see  that  he  is  quite  infatuated." 

"He  can  get  un-5nfatuated,"  interrupted  Wini- 
fred, with  no  pretense  of  misunderstanding. 

The  doctor  was  pleased  at  this  outburst.  He 
had  been  an  observer  of  advances  and  repulses 
between  these  two.  Now  he  was  thinking  of  an- 
other affair  whose  recent  complications  were  giv- 
ing him  much  concern. 

"You  wouldn't  call  him  a  gentleman?" 

"Oh,  no.    He's  a  politician." 

"That's  rather  hard  on  the  rest  of  us  who  are 
dabbling  in  politics." 

"You  know  what  I  mean!"  Winifred  made  a 
pretty  moue,  her  chin  upturned,  showing  clear 
against  the  leaping  flame.  As  her  companion 


244 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

noted  her  sweetness  he  almost  longed  for  his  by- 
gone youth. 

"I  sometimes  think  I  have  missed  a  good  deal 
by  not  marrying,"  mused  the  doctor,  with  seem- 
ing irrevelance.  "But  the  role  of  husband  was 
too  exacting  a  one  for  me!" 

Miss  Blair  gave  his  hand  a  gentle  pressure 
which  conveyed  her  disbelief. 

"We  bachelors  are  rather  a  forlorn  class,  when 
the  years  begin  to  count  up ;  and  as  for  the  women 

who  do  not  marry "  He  left  her  to  complete 

the  observation. 

"They  are  not  all  forlorn,"  defended  Winifred. 
"But  I  will  admit  that  the  unsuspected  longings  of 
some  of  them  are  pathetic.  Here  is  a  case  in 
point.  I  had  a  caller  this  very  afternoon — a 
woman  of  middle  age  who  used  to  work  for  us. 
She  was  in  distress  because  she  had  received  an 
offer  of  marriage.  From  a  worldly  standpoint 
she  is  foolish  not  to  accept  the  man,  for  he  is 
worthy  of  her,  and  could  provide  a  home.  When 
I  ventured  to  say  as  much  she  cried,  and  showed 
me  this  clipping  from  some  old  paper.  Shall  I 
read  it?" 

The  doctor  assented,  and  Winifred  rose  and 
took  a  slip  from  the  mantel. 

"  'There  is  an  interesting  old  Chinese  le- 
gend' "  she  read,  "  'which  relates  how  an 


THE  CHINESE  LEGEND  245 

angel  sits  with  a  long  pole  which  he  dips 
into  the  Sea  of  Love  and  lifts  a  drop  of  shin- 
ing water.  With  an  expert  motion  he  turns 
one-half  of  this  drop  to  the  right,  where  it  is 
immediately  transformed  into  a  soul;  the 
other  half  to  the  left — a  male  and  a  female; 
and  these  two  souls  go  seeking  each  other 
forever.  The  angel  is  so  constantly  occupied 
that  he  keeps  no  track  of  the  souls  that  he 
separates,  and  they  must  depend  upon  their 
own  intuition  to  recognize  each  other.' ' 

The  old  man  reached  for  the  paper  as  Wini- 
fred ceased.  She  was  silent  as  he  glanced  it  over. 

"That  old  legend  did  not  seem  trite  to  her;  it 
does  not  to  me,"  said  the  girl,  as  the  doctor 
looked  up.  UI  asked  her  to  leave  it  for  me  to 
copy." 

"And  the  woman?"  reminded  the  doctor. 

"She  stood  before  me,  gaunt,  unlovely,  grow- 
ing old.  As  I  read  her  clipping  she  clasped  her 
hands  tensely.  'Don't  you  see  why  I  don't  marry 
him?'  she  cried,  and  all  the  romance  and  persist- 
ent hope  of  her  lifetime  came  to  her  faded  eyes. 
'Because  I  want  to  find  my  other  half.  Because 
I  want — Love.' ' 

"She  is  all  right,  and  I  respect  her,"  said  the 
doctor.  "Too  many  women  sacrifice  their  per- 
sonality in  loveless  marriages." 


246 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"I  am  in  doubt,"  speculated  Winifred, 
"whether  the  women  who  lead  colorless,  unloved 
and  unloving  lives  are  not  happier  after  all.  They 
have  fewer  troubles.  Men  are  very  interesting, 
but  they  can  make  a  woman's  life  so  miserable, 
too." 

More  than  a  hint  of  pathos  in  this,  thought  the 
listener.  "How  about  a  girl  making  a  man  miser- 
able?" he  inquired.  "A  girl  who  has  love — deep, 
sincere  love  waiting  her  recognition?"  The  sur- 
geon took  the  knife  resolutely. 

"I  don't  know  what  you — I  was  speaking  in 
general " 

"Somewhere  in  the  Bible,  I  think,  somebody 
goes  about  seeking  whom  he  may  devour.  Now- 
adays women  go  about  looking  for  trouble.  I've 
known  that  kind  before,  Winnie,  but  I  never  saw 
anyone  fairly  gallop  after  it  as  you  do." 

"Why,  doctor!" 

"My  dear,"  the  friend  put  his  hand  caressingly 
on  her  own,  "why  do  you  repulse  Danvers'  love? 
Do  not  be  offended,"  he  said  gently,  as  she  pulled 
away. 

She  hid  her  face  in  her  upturned  hands.  Sud- 
denly it  was  sweet  to  feel  the  solicitude  of  a  love 
so  like  what  she  had  dreamed  a  father's  might  be. 

"I  can  see,  dear  child.  I  know  Philip  as  I 
know  my  own  heart.  I  think  I  know  you  (so  far 
as  a  man  can  understand  a  woman),"  he  stroked 


THE  CHINESE  LEGEND 247 

her  hair  fondly,  "and  you  are  making  a  mistake." 

"No,  I'm  not,"  came  in  a  whisper.  "I — you 

don't  know — about — Charlie "  Tears  fell 

fast,  relieving  the  suppressed  anguish  of  weeks. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  do."    His  words  fell  like  balm. 

"Charlie  has  been  so  good  to  me  all  these  years. 
I  can't  bear  to  see  him — drift.  You  know — I  can't 
say  it " 

"Don't  say  it,"  counseled  the  doctor.  "I  un- 
derstand perfectly." 

"And  yet,"  with  quivering  voice,  "you  ask  me 
why  I  turn  Mr.  Danvers  away !  Can't  you  under- 
stand— knowing  his  love  for  Judge  Latimer? 
Oh,  what  shall  I  do?  What  shall  I  do?"  she 
gasped;  but  soon  controlled  herself.  "And  I'm 
afraid  Charlie  will  vote  for  Mr.  Burroughs  be- 
cause  " 

"Exactly!"  The  doctor  used  the  truth  un- 
sparingly. "Eva  has  secured  many  votes  for  Bur- 
roughs. But  we'll  hope  that  Charlie  can  be  held 
in  line.  He  has  promised  Danvers  to  vote  for  his 
candidate — the  governor." 

"Oh,  but  I'm  afraid!"  wailed  the  girl.  "And 
if — oh,  he  would  despise  us  both — we  are  of  the 
same  blood!  If  it  were  not  for  this  dreadful  con- 
test I  might  be  so  happy!"  Confession  shone  in 
her  eyes. 

"Thank  God!"  said  the  old  man,  reverently. 
"He  has  been  good  to  you — both."  He  kissed 


248 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  hand  that  trembled  in  his.  "You  have  made 
me  happy,  too." 

They  sat  in  silent  communion,  the  old  man 
watching  the  play  of  emotion  on  the  girl's  sensi- 
tive face,  now  free  from  the  look  of  anxiety  that 
had  been  so  apparent. 

"Love  is  one  long  heartache,"  said  the  girl, 
plaintively.  "Wouldn't  you  think,  doctor,  that  if 
a  man  cared " 

"If  that  isn't  just  like  a  woman!"  interrupted 
her  companion,  thinking  he  knew  what  Winifred 
was  trying  to  say.  "Women  must  have  it  in 
words.  You  want  Philip  to  chatter  away  like  a 
society  man.  He  will  talk  fast  enough  when  you 
quit  your  foolishness  and  give  him  a  chance." 

"I  only  wanted  to  say  that  he  is  undemonstra- 
tive," explained  the  girl,  flaming  red.  "I  should 
think  that  if  he — oh,  but  I  am  glad  he  does  not 
speak!"  she  interrupted  herself,  vehemently,  re- 
membering her  brother's  peril.  "He  must  not 
speak!" 

"Don't  allow  any  false  pride  to  come  between 
you,"  urged  the  doctor.  "Nothing  kills  a  man's 
love  so  quickly  as  indifference,  real  or  feigned." 

"Do  you  think  so?"  She  was  glad  to  be  im- 
personal again.  "I  imagined  a  little  indifference 
piqued  a  man  to  further  effort." 

"The  heat  of  propinquity  feeds  the  flame  of 
love,"  oracularly. 


THE  CHINESE  LEGEND 249 

"I  do  not  agree  with  you  there,  Doctor.  I  think 
men  grow  tired  of  women's  solicitude  and  com- 
pany." 

"Of  their  wives?" 

Winifred  nodded. 

"Precious  few  have  the  experience!  But  I 
agree  with  you  that  most  married  people  see  too 
much  of  each  other.  Men  seem  to  realize  the  fact. 
That  is  why  they  go  on  hunting  and  fishing  trips. 
Do  they  hunt?  A  few  of  the  party,  but  the  rest 
sit  around  and  enjoy  themselves,  because  they  are 
a  party  of  men.  Women  will  never  understand 
this  feeling — this  insulation,  so  to  speak;  it  is  the 
cause  of  much  of  the  unhappiness  we  see.  Most 
men  fall  short  of  the  standard  a  woman  demands 
from  her  husband.  The  first  rapturous  love,  with 
its  utterance  and  reciprocity,  is  expected  to  last 
after  years  of  intimacy.  In  love,  as  in  a  dinner, 
comes  the  gradual  relaxation,  the  ease  of  well- 
being,  which  is  the  greatest  compliment  (if  she 
but  knew  it)  to  a  woman's  power  to  evoke  and 
to  hold  love.  She  has  not  lost  it;  to  reiterate 
what  is  a  self-evident  fact  seems  to  the  man  un- 
necessary. A  happy  married  life  is  one  of  con- 
tent, comradeship,  loyalty.  Words  are  not  needed 
where  such  conditions  exist." 

"I'll  remember  all  you  have  said,"  sighed  the 
girl,  "but  I  shall  never  have  an  opportunity  to 
prove  it!" 


25Q A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"Nonsense,  girl!"  The  comforter  rose  as  he 
heard  Charlie's  voice  in  the  outer  hall.  "You  are 
depressed  to-night.  Life  will  look  brighter  to- 
morrow. These  tangled  trails  are  going  to  be 
straightened — I'm  sure  of  it!  Love  will  crystal- 
lize that  Chinese  legend  into  reality — for  you  and 
for  Phil.  Good-night!  Good-night!" 


RECOGNITION 


251 


FOR   years   Danvers  had   shunned  women. 
Yet  he  had  not  spent  his  life  in  melan- 
choly  over   Eva's   defection;   known   to 
many,  but  understood  by  few,  his  real  nature  with- 
drew from  the  light.     His  intuitive  attitude  to- 
ward strangers  of  either  sex  was  a  negative  in- 
difference that  gave  him  time  to  estimate  their 
character    or    their   motives — a    habit    desirable 
enough   in  business,  but  unsatisfactory  in  social 
life. 

The  growth  of  his  regard  for  Winifred  had 
been  so  gradual  that  he  had  not  thought  it  might 
prove  to  be  love.  Her  unaffected  interest  in  the 
only  life  he  had  enjoyed — the  old  days  at  Fort 
Macleod — had  roused  him  from  apathy,  and  her 


252 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

comprehension  of  his  motives  and  activities  ex- 
hilarated him.  He  delighted  in  her  intelligent 
comradeship  when  discussing  the  real  world. 

One  subject,  only,  did  she  avoid,  and  that  but 
recently.  State  politics  were  never  mentioned 
after  her  brother  became  the  keystone  to  the  situa- 
tion. Though  she  had  no  proof  that  Charlie's 
vote  was  the  one  vote  necessary  to  Burroughs' 
election,  she  had  no  doubt  that  it  was  a  fact. 

When  this  shadow  of  another's  crime  crept  over 
the  brightness  of  their  friendship,  Danvers  was 
bewildered — repulsed  by  her  unusual  reserve. 
The  doctor's  explanation  gave  him  somewhat  of 
courage,  and  he  had  the  fine  perseverance  that 
conquers. 

A  few  days  after  he  had  talked  with  the  doctor 
Danvers  saw  Miss  Blair  crossing  the  street  just 
ahead  of  him.  He  hastened  to  overtake  her — 
he  would  put  an  end  to  her  coldness  and  her  re- 
pulses. As  he  dodged  a  car,  he  noted  in  her  walk 
the  pride  and  courage  that  had  recently  been 
added  to  her  bearing.  He  thought  he  understood 
her  attitude  toward  him — toward  the  whole 
world;  and  a  flood  of  loving  pity  swept  over  him. 
Reaching  the  other  side  of  the  street,  he  found 
that  she  had  disappeared.  He  looked  up  and 
down  in  the  dusk,  but  caught  no  further  sight  of 
the  elusive  Miss  Blair;  and  after  lingering  on  the 
street  for  a  half  hour,  he  returned  to  the  hotel. 


RECOGNITION 253 

As  he  ascended  the  stairs  to  the  first  floor  he 
caught  a  glimpse  of  Charlie  Blair,  just  entering 
the  Latimers'  apartments.  His  vexation  at  Wini- 
fred's avoidance  was  a  small  matter  to  the  anger 
that  now  flamed  within.  Small  wonder  that  Miss 
Blair  wished  to  meet  no  one  while  this  folly  was 
unchecked!  Yet  he  felt  that  he  must  share  her 
trouble,  and  resolved  to  make  one  more  attempt 
to  see  her  that  evening. 

She  opened  the  door  in  response  to  his  firm 
knock  after  dinner,  hesitating  perceptibly  when 
she  saw  him.  But  Philip  would  not  be  denied,  and 
entered  with  a  determined  resolution. 

The  girl's  heart  rose  high — fluttered,  and  al- 
most ceased  to  beat.  He  was  going  to  speak; 
she  must  not  allow  it. 

"Where  did  you  go  to-night?"  he  asked,  as  he 
put  his  hat  and  stick  on  the  table.  "I  saw  you  on 
Warren  street  and  tried  to  overtake  you,  but  you 
disappeared.  I  prowled  around  hoping  to  find 
you  again;  and  I  had  my  new  shoes  on,  too,  and 
they  hurt  me." 

The  whimsical  gaiety  of  the  complaint  took 
away  Winifred's  reserve,  and  without  attempting 
to  explain  her  disappearance,  she  smiled  a  wel- 
come, though  she  soon  fell  silent  under  the  burden 
of  her  heart. 

Philip  had  called  with  a  set  purpose,  yet  he 
found  no  words  as  he  sat  before  the  smouldering 


254 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

fire.  He  had  time,  waiting  for  the  moment  of 
speech,  to  note  the  pathetic  droop  of  her  shoulders 
and  the  weariness  of  her  beautiful  eyes.  Evi- 
dently the  courage  and  strength  of  the  day  had 
been  exhausted. 

She  played  idly  with  a  book,  but  laid  it  aside 
while  she  roused  the  half-burned  wood  into  a 
shower  of  sparks. 

Philip  reached  and  took  up  the  book  abstract- 
edly, and  carelessly  turned  the  leaves,  wondering 
how  he  should  say  what  was  in  his  heart.  A  loose 
paper  fluttered  to  the  floor.  He  picked  it  up.  It 
was  the  newspaper  cutting  that  Winifred  had 
saved,  but  had  forgotten  to  copy,  in  the  stress  of 
her  anxieties. 

Danvers  was  about  to  replace  it  when  some- 
thing familiar  made  him  scan  it  eagerly.  Radiant 
with  joy,  he  glanced  at  his  companion,  but  Wini- 
fred stood  at  the  mantel  with  averted  face.  He 
took  out  his  note-book,  found  a  little,  old,  yellow 
scrap,  and  held  both  slips  in  his  hand  as  he  rose. 
He  drew  the  girl  to  him,  startled,  resisting. 

"Haven't  we  found  each  other?"  he  asked,  sim- 
ply, showing  her  the  twin  copies  of  the  legend, 
old,  yet  ever  new.  "This  little  clipping  has  been 
close  to  my  heart  for  years — waiting  for  you, 
dear.  Won't  you  take  its  place?" 

Winifred  was  silent.  She  had  guarded  against 
all  ordinary  appeals,  but  this — how  could  she 


RECOGNITION 255 

answer  him?  To  refuse  this  tender  sympathy, 
this  yearning  love,  when  she  most  needed  it — the 
thought  was  bitterness ! 

Still  silent  she  drew  away  from  him,  and  lifted 
a  face  so  drawn  with  suffering  that  Danvers  was 
startled  at  the  change. 

"You  do  not  love  me?"  he  questioned,  more  to 
himself  than  to  the  shrinking  woman.  "You  do 
not  understand?" 

He  stood  before  her  struggling  with  his  dis- 
appointment— that  she  should  fail  to  understand 
— she  who  had  always  felt  his  thought  so  subtly; 
it  was  this,  almost  as  much  as  her  lack  of  response 
to  his  love,  that  hurt  him. 

They  stood  before  each  other,  separated  by  a 
thing  which  the  woman  would  not  put  into  words, 
and  the  man  dared  not  question. 

"Mr.  Danvers — Philip,"  said  the  girl,  gently, 

"I  am  sorry "  She  hesitated  at  the  trite 

words,  her  voice  faltering  as  she  looked  up  into 
his  sad  face;  it  had  grown  thin  and  tired  these  last 
days.  She  longed  to  go  to  him,  to  tell  him  that 
he  should  find  rest  at  last.  "No,"  she  went  on, 
finally,  "I  am  not  sorry  that  you  found  the  clip- 
ping," she  altered  her  words;  "why  should  I  not 
be  honest  with  myself — and  you?" 

She  spoke  so  simply,  so  easily,  that  Danvers 
almost  believed  that  she  did  not  care. 

"You  saved  my  life  once,  dear  friend,"  she  said, 


256 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"and  that  makes  me  dare  to  ask  you  to  be  gener- 
ous now.  Do  not  judge  me !  Wait  a  little.  For- 
get this  evening,  and  let  us  go  back  to  the  old 
days.  Will  you?" 

She  smiled  into  his  face,  so  sad  a  little  smile 
in  its  evident  effort  at  bravery,  that  he  responded 
to  her  mood,  eager  to  help  her  keep  the  mastery 
over  her  heart,  that  she  might  fight  her  battle  in 
her  own  proud  way.  Almost,  he  was  reconciled 
to  her  woman's  judgment;  and  he  sat  down  and 
talked  of  Fort  Benton  days. 

For  that  hour  Winifred  was  grateful  to  Dan- 
vers  all  her  life;  and  when  he  rose  to  say  good- 
night she  was  quite  herself  again. 

"You  will  understand  if  I  tell  you  that  I  must 
go  now?"  inquired  Danvers.  "Judge  Latimer 
was  to  come  in  on  Number  Four,  and  I  must  see 
him  to-night." 

Winifred  met  his  look  with  comprehension,  and 
gave  him  her  hand. 

A  faint  sound  reached  them  from  the  Latimer's 
apartment  across  the  way  as  Danvers  opened  the 
door.  He  listened,  then  ran  across  the  hall. 

"What's  that?"  cried  Winifred,  startled. 


THE  LOBBYIST 


257 


FATE,  woman-like,  cares  not  what  means 
she  employs  to  hurt.  She  takes  what 
comes  first  to  hand.  Sometimes  the  more 
unlikely  the  weapon,  the  more  effective  is  its  use. 

The  same  afternoon  that  Danvers  tried  to  over- 
take Miss  Blair,  two  talkative  drummers  boarded 
the  west-bound  train  at  a  small  Montana  station, 
doubling  back  to  Helena.  As  they  entered  the 
smoking  compartment  of  a  sleeper  they  found  it 
empty  save  for  a  slight,  weary-looking  man  who 
was  gazing  abstractedly  at  the  wintry  plains. 

"Here,  don't  sit  that  side,"  said  one;  "the  sun 
glares  on  the  snow  too  much." 

As  the  drummer  spoke  to  his  friend  he  gave  a 
passing  glance  at  the  preoccupied  stranger,  and 


258 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

chanced  to  take  the  seat  directly  in  front  of  him. 
The  other  followed  his  advice,  facing  him. 

"What's  doing  in  Helena?  I've  been  gone  a 
week,  but  I  see  by  the  paper  you  haven't  elected 
a  senator  yet." 

"Naw,"  returned  his  companion;  "hadn't  yes- 
terday, when  I  took  the  train." 

"Pretty  stiff  contest." 

"Pretty  slick  man  bound  to  win  out." 

"Wish  I  was  a  member,  with  all  the  swag  there 
is  floating  'round." 

"Wish  I  was  a  member  with  a  right  pretty 
woman  coaxing  for  my  vote !" 

"What's  that?  I  hadn't  heard  of  that  yet." 
The  speaker  leaned  forward,  scenting  scandal. 

"Aw!  It's  no  secret  in  Helena.  It's  the  talk 
of  the  town." 

"I  never  heard  a  word.  I  thought  politics  was 
free  from  petticoats  out  here." 

"They  never  are — anywhere.  You  know  Char- 
lie Blair?" 

The  drummer  interrogated  shook  his  head. 

"Well,  he's  a  Helena  man,  and  one  of  the 
State  senators.  There's  a  woman  lobbyin'  for 
Burroughs,  so  they  say,  and  she's  got  Blair  batty! 
Last  man  in  the  world  you'd  expect  to  be  caught 
by  a  woman.  They  say  he's  a  great  friend  of  her 
husband's,  too — Judge  Latimer." 


THE  LOBBYIST 259 

A  stifled  moan  came  from  the  seat  behind  the 
drummers. 

"You  don't  say!    Any  talk  about  her  before?" 

"Search  me !" 

"Probably  there's  nothing  in  it,"  concluded  the 
other,  with  unexpected  charity.  "You  know  how 
people  surmise  the  worst.  She  doesn't  care  for 
him,  I  take  it." 

"Naw!  At  least,  not  if  I  size  her  up  correct. 
She's  a  good-looker,  all  right;  she  was  pointed  out 
to  me  one  night  in  the  hotel  dining-room.  It  was 
easy  to  see  where  she  was  stuck!  She  couldn't 
keep  her  eyes  off  a  tall,  good-looking  fellow,  that 
I  was  told  was  the  senator  from  Chouteau 
County." 

The  other  nodded.  "I've  heard  of  him.  He's 
the  head  of  the  opposition  to  Burroughs  in  the 
Republican  party.  Danvers,  his  name  is — Eng- 
lishman— in  the  cattle  business." 

"I  saw  the  situation  right  away.  Bill  Moore, 
Burroughs'  political  boss,  you  know,  says  that 
years  ago  they  had  an  affair  over  in  the  Whoop 
Up  Country — wherever  that  is,  and " 

"Bozeman!"  said  the  porter,  interrupting  the 
conversation. 

"I  got  to  see  a  man  here,"  said  one  of  the 
drummers.  "Come  along.  It  won't  take  but  a 
minute.  He'll  be  waiting  on  the  platform;  I 
wired  him." 


260 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"That  man  looked  bad,"  commented  the  other, 
jerking  his  thumb  backward  as  they  stepped  from 
the  car.  "Did  you  notice  how  ghastly  his  face 
was?  I  thought  for  a  moment  he  was  going  to 
speak  to  you." 

They  passed  on,  and  the  conductor,  who  fol- 
lowed a  moment  later,  stopped  abruptly  at  sight 
of  the  limp  figure,  and  hurried  into  the  next  coach. 

"Is  there  a  doctor  on  board?"  he  asked.  "A 
man  has  fainted — or  had  a  stroke.  It's  Judge 
Latimer,  of  Helena." 

And  the  instruments  of  fate  never  knew  what 
a  deadly  blow  they  had  delivered. 

That  evening  Mrs.  Latimer,  exquisitely  gowned 
and  radiating  magnetism,  was  again  trying  to  per- 
suade Senator  Blair  to  vote  for  Mr.  Burroughs. 

"Burroughs  is  capable  of  more  skulduggery 
than  any  man  in  the  State,"  declared  her  caller, 
after  they  had  talked  somewhat  of  the  senatorial 
candidate.  "I  can't  see  why  you  keep  on  harping 
on  his  fitness  for  the  place." 

"Do  you  know,  I  admire  him,"  responded  Mrs. 
Latimer,  with  apparent  frankness.  "He  may  be 
unscrupulous;  but  he  has  been  successful.  The 
end  justifies  the  means,  I  think." 

"I've  promised  Senator  Danvers  that  I  would 
not  vote  for  Burroughs,"  affirmed  Blair,  stub- 
bornly. Eva  had  treated  him  coolly  for  a  few 


THE  LOBBYIST 261 

days,  and  he  had  practically  decided  that  he 
wanted  neither  Judge  Latimer's  wife  nor  Bur- 
roughs' money.  But  as  he  gazed  at  the  lady's  ripe 
beauty  he  became  more  infatuated  than  before. 
He  changed  the  subject  abruptly.  "I  must  go 
down  to  the  valley  to-morrow,  after  the  session 
adjourns.  Will  you  come  with  me  for  a  ride?" 

"Are  you  crazy?"  Mrs.  Latimer  spoke  with 
scorn. 

"No  one  will  see  us,"  he  pleaded.  "I  can  pick 
you  up  where  you  used  to  live.  You  can  wear  a 
veil  if  you  like.  What  do  we  care  if  we  do  meet 
somebody  we  know?  You  belong  to  the  smart 
set — you  can  do  anything  you  like."  Charlie 
laughed  loud. 

"My  dear  friend,"  Eva  began,  cynically,  be- 
lieving that  her  position  had  so  far  made  her 
exempt  from  comment,  "the  world  is  too  suspi- 
cious. No  man  and  woman  can  foregather  with- 
out some  pure  soul  interpreting  that  companion- 
ship to  its  own  satisfaction.  Besides,  I  expect 
Arthur  any  day  now.  He  neither  writes  nor 
wires  me  just  when  he  can  come." 

"You'll  never  do  a  thing  to  please  me!"  cried 
Blair,  hotly.  "I  am  the  one  who  must  grant 
favors.  I " 

"Aren't  you  a  man,  and  therefore  to  be  com- 
pliant?" returned  Eva,  her  smile  tempering  her 
insolence.  Then,  pleading,  although  her  eyes 


262 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

grew  no  softer:  "Only  one  thing  do  I  ask,  Sena- 
tor. Please,  please  grant  me  that!  Don't  you 
care  for  me  more  than  for  Senator  Danvers? 
Break  your  promise  to  him — for  me."  She  was 
very  enticing  as  she  bent  towards  him,  and  he  was 
conscious  of  the  faint  perfume  about  her. 

"Mr.  Burroughs  needs  your  vote,"  she  went 
on,  persuasively;  "and  if  you  give  it  to  him — as 
I've  told  you  a  hundred  times — he  has  promised 
that  he  will  provide  for  Arthur;  and  you  like 
Arthur." 

"And  what  do  /  get  out  of  it?" 

"You'll  please  me,"  was  the  caressing  answer. 
"And — I  never  thought  of  it  before,"  she  hastened 
to  add,  as  the  scar  grew  more  conspicuous — a  sure 
register  of  his  emotions — "why  not  ask  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs to  get  you  to  Berlin,  too — as  first  secre- 
tary or  something,  if  we  go  there?"  She  must 
throw  him  some  encouragement.  "I  hate  Helena. 
You  do  yourself.  If  we  were  in  Berlin,  we'd  be 
where  life  is — a  whirl  of " 

"Madness,"  Senator  Blair  finished  her  sentence 
for  her,  thickly.  "I  do  not  have  to  go  away  from 
Helena  for  that  sensation!"  He  lost  control  of 
himself.  "You  drive  me  mad,  Eva!  You  are 
more  tempting  than  ever!  Give  me  one  kiss — 
one — and  I'll  vote  for  Burroughs  till  hell  freezes 
over!"  The  language  of  the  frontier  returned, 
in  his  abandon. 


THE  LOBBYIST 263 

"Not  now!"  The  temptress  was  thoroughly 
alarmed.  She  had  thought  to  control  any  situa- 
tion, but — Charlie's  eyes — so  near  her  own! 

"Perhaps — when  you  have  voted  for "  She 

must  secure  this  man's  vote  for  Burroughs,  even 
if  she  bartered  her  self-respect. 

"Now,  by  God!    Now!" 

"No !  No !"  In  terror  Eva  gave  a  suppressed 
cry  and  turned  to  escape  the  arms  of  the  man 
she  had  maddened.  With  his  hot  lips  brushing 
her  own  she  turned  away  her  face  in  impotent 
writhing,  and  saw  her  husband  standing  in  the 
doorway. 

"Pardon  me,"  apologized  Latimer,  courte- 
ously, as  though  in  a  trance.  He  stepped  for- 
ward, closed  the  door  and  took  off  his  coat  and 
hat.  He  sat  down  absently,  as  if  he  had  returned 
after  only  a  few  hours'  absence.  He  took  no 
notice  of  the  presence  of  Senator  Blair  nor  of 
his  hasty  exit.  The  scene  he  had  interrupted 
seemed  to  have  no  meaning  for  him.  He  could 
not  have  told  how  he  reached  home,  and  his  one 
thought  was  of  Danvers — his  supposed  Judas — 
and  of  the  wife  who  had  lived  a  lie  even  while 
bearing  his  children. 

But  Eva  could  not  know  this,  and  strove  hur- 
riedly to  form  some  excuse  for  her  predicament. 

Latimer  made  no  response  to  her  explanations. 
Instead  he  said,  quite  gently:  "I'll  go  and  see  if 


264  A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

little  Arthur  is  asleep.  I  want  to  kiss  him  good- 
night," and  disappeared  through  the  portieres. 

Eva  stood  motionless,  voiceless,  in  chill  terror 
at  her  husband's  solicitude  for  the  dead  child! 
Had  he  forgotten — or  was  he  going  mad?  What 
had  happened?  What  was  to  happen? 

When  Latimer  returned,  his  eyes  had  lost  their 
dazed  expression.  "My  name  is  a  reproach — it 
is  handed  around  by  coarse  gossips!"  he  said, 
hoarsely.  His  look  went  beyond  accusation. 

Eva  suddenly  sank  to  her  knees  in  mortal  fear. 
The  tones  were  not  loud,  but  she  never  could  have 
believed  that  those  mild,  blue  eyes  would  flash  at 
her  such  a  menace  of  death. 

"Arthur!"  she  wailed;  "what  have  you  heard? 
Why  have  you  come  home  like  this?  I  have  not 
been  untrue?  Who  said  so?  I  have  not!  I  have 
lied  to  you  sometimes  about  little  things — but  not 
now!" 

The  silence  was  terrible !  She  began  again, 
miserably:  "I've  been  helping  Mr.  Burroughs; 
but  surely  that's  not — it  was  for  your  advance- 
ment— Arthur! — speak  to  me!"  She  broke  into 
gasping  sobs. 

The  pale,  emaciated  face  above  her  never 
softened;  the  eyes  never  wavered.  Yet  a  reason- 
ing anguish  crept  into  the  insane  glare.  After  all, 
nothing  mattered  except  this  one  great  pain  in  his 


THE  LOBBYIST 265 

heart.  What  was  it  he  wanted  to  know?  Yes — 
he  remembered!  The  truth! — the  truth! 

"And  Philip  Danvers?" 

The  change  in  tone  gave  so  great  relief  that 
Eva  became  hysterical,  not  understanding  the  ob- 
scure connection. 

"Oh,  Senator  Danvers?  He  has  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  lobbying.  You  know  he  is  against 
Mr.  Burroughs."  She  rose,  again  self-possessed, 
feeling  herself  able  to  explain  all  untoward  cir- 
cumstances. 

"Come,  you  are  worn  from  your  journey.  Lie 
here  on  the  couch  and  I'll  get  you  some  wine." 

But  her  husband  resisted,  dumbly,  looking  at 
her  as  a  starving  dog  might  look  at  the  hand  that 
had  enticed  him  by  pretending  to  offer  food. 
Words  came,  at  last,  while  he  beat  his  hands  to- 
gether in  agony. 

"I  cannot  bear  it — I  cannot!  They  said  you 
and  Phil  had  an  affair  in  the  Whoop  Up  Coun- 
try  " 

"What  are  you  saying?"  came  from  Eva, 
sharply.  She  went  from  fear  to  fury.  "You've 
been  listening  to  some  malicious  gossip,"  she 
screamed;  "and  now  you  come  home  to  frighten 
me  into  spasms  I"  The  rage  covered  her  fright. 
"There's  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it!" 

"Tell  me  the  truth!"  The  God  on  high  could 
not  have  been  more  mandatory. 


266 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

The  woman  dared  not  lie  again.  Her  anger, 
rather  than  her  self-respect,  brought  the  truth  like 
a  charge  of  dynamite  from  the  muddy  waters  of 
her  soul. 

"Well,  then,  it  is  the  truth!  I  was  engaged 
to  Philip  Danvers  at  Fort  Macleod.  I  threw  him 
over  afterwards,  because  he  had  no  money  and 
you  had.  Now  are  you  satisfied?"  The  cruel  de- 
sire to  hurt  gave  this  added  thrust.  "No?  Then 
let  me  tell  you  that  I  have  never  loved  you,  never ! 
I've  always  loved  Philip  Danvers — always — al- 
ways— always !"  Her  voice  rose  in  crescendo. 

At  last  it  was  spoken.  Eva  stood  at  bay,  her 
jewels  glittering  on  bare  shoulders  and  arms  as 
balefully  as  her  eyes  flashed  hate. 

"God!"  Latimer  reeled,  and  put  his  hand  on 
his  heart,  but  recovered  himself.  "And  Philip" — 
the  words  came  in  a  chill  whisper — "did  he  love 
—you?" 

"You'd  better  ask  him!"  Eva  was  wholly  be- 
side herself,  in  the  reaction  of  a  weak  woman's 
fear. 

"Phil — my  friend!"  he  choked,  started  and 
winced,  putting  his  hand  again  over  his  heart; 
then  fell  heavily. 

The  woman  screamed  in  fright  and  knelt  be- 
side him. 

"Arthur,  he  never  cared — after  I  dismissed 
him.  He  despised  me.  He  despises  me  now — 


THE  LOBBYIST 267 

more  than  you  ever  can.  Oh,  God  in  heaven! 
What  have  I  done?"  Remorse  followed  swiftly 
on  her  anger. 

Latimer  was  conscious  as  his  wife  raised  his 
head.  He  had  understood  her  confession,  and 
although  he  could  not  speak  he  motioned  for  her 
to  seek  assistance;  but  the  effort  was  too  much, 
and  he  again  sank  back,  moaning. 

Eva  laid  him  gently  down,  and  flew  to  the 
door.  As  she  opened  it  she  fell  against  Danvers, 
coming  from  Winifred's  side. 

"You've  killed  him,  at  last !"  Philip  flayed  her 
with  word  and  look  as  she  sped  for  other  help; 
but  he  forgot  her  as  he  knelt  and  raised  Latimer's 
head  to  his  knee.  He  would  have  carried  him  to 
a  couch,  but  Arthur  motioned  that  he  could  not 
endure  that  pain.  The  look  of  trust  that  greeted 
Danvers  was  returned  with  one  of  love  and 
fidelity. 

With  a  sigh  of  utter  content  Latimer,  by  a 
supreme  effort,  raised  his  hands  to  Philip's  shoul- 
ders. 

"Arthur!"  Danvers  groaned,  holding  him  close 
as  he  looked  into  the  glazing  eyes. 

"Did  I  doubt  you  ?"  whispered  the  judge.  "For- 
give me — my  dear — friend — Phil!" 


268 


A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 


liapter   X  IV 

Tit  e-    KTe/y  &  1  o  n  e/- 

WHEN  Senator  Blair  learned  of  Judge 
Latimer's  death  Tie  thought  himself  its 
prime  cause  and  suffered  as  only  a  man 
can  who  is  not  wholly  heartless.  How  poorly  he 
had  rewarded  the  friendship  which  had  relieved 
him  in  his  need  at  Fort  Macleod!  All  his  passion 
for  Mrs.  Latimer  had  died  in  that  fearful  moment 
when  he  looked  on  the  curiously  passive  husband 
in  the  doorway;  remorse  bit  like  acid  into  the 
depths  of  his  heart.  The  meaning  glances  and 
the  interrupted  conversations  that  met  him  every- 
where the  morning  after  the  judge's  death  drove 
him  to  solitude.  He  even  avoided  his  sister,  Dan- 
vers  and  the  doctor;  but  most  of  all  he  shunned 
the  Honorable  Mr.  Moore.  He  had  had  enough 


THE  KEYSTONE 269 

of  temptation!  He  would  not  allow  himself 
again  to  be  approached! 

His  belief  that  in  the  sight  of  God  he  was  a 
murderer  made  Blair  collapse  during  the  day.  He 
was  confined  to  his  room;  and  it  was  then  that  he 
'told  the  Fort  Benton  physician  all  that  was  haunt- 
ing him,  hour  by  hour.  Blair  did  not  attempt  to 
palliate  his  sin,  and  although  the  doctor  had 
known  much  and  suspected  more,  he  could  hardly 
find  it  in  his  heart  to  forgive  either  Winifred's 
brother  or  the  woman  who  had  led  him  on.  The 
only  ray  of  mercy  he  felt  was  that  matters  were 
not  so  bad  as  he  had  feared  between  these  old 
friends  of  his;  but  in  his  bitterness  at  Arthur's 
death,  he  would  not  give  Blair  the  consolation  of 
knowing  that  it  was  only  a  question  of  a  short 
time,  at  best,  when  the  judge's  weak  heart  must 
have  failed.  Let  him  suffer!  Arthur  had!  For 
the  first  time  the  lenient  doctor  did  not  want  to 
relieve  pain.  Neither  he  nor  Blair  knew  of  what 
had  taken  place  between  Eva  and  her  husband 
after  Charlie  had  left  their  rooms. 

The  doctor's  bitterness,  however,  was  as  noth- 
ing to  the  inward  storm  which  shook  Danvers 
when  Eva,  in  the  height  of  her  hysterical  remorse 
and  fear  of  exposure,  told  him  the  sorry  tale  of 
her  first  flutterings  around  the  arc-light  of  Mr. 
Burroughs'  ambition;  of  her  consent  to  aid  Mr. 
Moore  in  his  efforts  to  influence  uncertain  legis- 


2yo A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

lators  to  vote  for  Burroughs,  and  that  gentleman's 
acceptance  thereof;  of  the  clandestine  meetings  in 
her  apartments  with  the  Honorable  William,  and 
of  the  more  open  but  far  less  harmless  friendship 
with  Senator  Blair,  pursued  until  she  was  singed 
with  the  flame  of  her  own  kindling  and  nearly 
consumed  by  its  fires.  And  lastly,  her  husband's 
reproaches;  her  miserable  evasions  and  the  hurt 
that  she  had  deliberately  given  him.  When  she 
told  her  silent  listener  of  that  last  half  hour  Dan- 
vers  held  himself  forcibly  in  his  fear  of  doing  the 
woman  bodily  harm.  That  she  should  have  done 
this  cruel  thing!  Her  indiscretions  had  been  bad 
enough,  but  they  had  been  prompted  by  an  ambi- 
tion second  only  to  Mr.  Burroughs'.  But  to  turn 
the  knife  wantonly  in  Arthur's  heart  of  gold! 
.  How  nearly  his  friend  had  gone  from 
him,  believing  that  he  was  false!  .  .  .  And 
now  he  was  dead!  .  .  .  dead! 

Philip's  agony  broke  its  restraint,  and  Mrs. 
Latimer  never  forgot  his  scathing  denunciation. 

"You  killed  Arthur,"  he  concluded,  white  to 
the  lips,  "as  surely  as  if  you  used  a  stiletto !  So 
that  was  what  Arthur  meant."  For  a  few  mo- 
ments Danvers  could  not  speak  as  the  recollection 
of  that  look  of  love  and  trust  came  surging 
back.  "No  one  must  ever  know  the  truth,"  he 
went  on,  huskily.  "Let  it  be  buried  with  poor 
Arthur,  There  will  be  more  or  less  gossip;  but 


THE  KEYSTONE 271 

we  will  stand  by  you  for  the  judge's  sake — and 
for  Miss  Blair's  as  well.  She,  of  all  persons, 
must  know  nothing  of  what  you  have  told  me." 

Mrs.  Latimer's  sobs  only  roused  his  wrath  at 
all  the  misery  she  had  wrought.  He  knew  her 
tears  were  for  herself,  not  for  her  husband.  As 
he  turned  to  leave  the  room  she  caught  at  his 
hand. 

"I  did  not  mean "  she  began  in  weak  de- 
fense. "You  are  too  hard,"  she  protested,  feeling 
him  recoil. 

"Hard!"  Philip  laughed  harshly  in  his  pain. 
"You  did  not  expect  me  to  condole  with  you  on 
the  outcome  of  your  folly?  All  that  I  can  say  is, 
may  God  forgive  you!"  and  he  was  gone. 

So  resolutely  did  Latimer's  friends  ignore  all 
previous  conditions  that  the  ready  tongue  of  ru- 
mor was  silenced  immediately.  Surely  if  Senator 
Danvers  and  the  doctor  from  Fort  Benton,  as 
well  as  Miss  Blair,  were  ever  at  Mrs.  Latimer's 
side,  there  could  have  been  no  breath  of  wrong 
in  her  sudden  cultivation  of  Senator  Blair. 

Only  three  persons — Danvers,  the  doctor  and 
Moore — knew  of  the  hidden  octopus  of  Bur- 
roughs' insatiable  vindictiveness,  whose  tentacles, 
first  fastening  on  Eva,  had  finally  crushed  Lati- 
mer.  Moore  knew,  if  the  others  did  not,  that 
Blair  was  doomed  if  he  once  again  came  within 
its  radius.  Then  for  the  others!  But  he  made 


272 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

no  immediate  move,  and  decorously  gave  regard 
to  the  proprieties,  both  for  himself  and  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  Mr.  Burroughs.  His  chief  was  almost 
as  hysterical  as  Eva  herself  over  the  judge's  un- 
timely death,  for  he  thought  his  prospects  en- 
dangered thereby.  His  panic  made  him  hasten  to 
leave  Helena  for  a  few  days. 

Moore  had  tried  to  secure  some  other  man  to 
change  to  Burroughs,  someone  who  did  not  hold 
himself  as  high  as  Blair  had  done  on  the  night 
of  the  club  dinner;  but  he  had  finally  been  obliged 
to  report  his  non-success.  He  suggested  to  Bur- 
roughs that  he  approach  Senator  Blair  once  more, 
offering  twenty  thousand  dollars.  He  felt  sure 
that  Charlie  would  take  less — now! 

Just  before  Burroughs  ordered  a  special  train 
to  hurry  him  away  from  the  prevailing  gloom, 
the  two  conspirators  had  their  final  word  on  the 
subject  of  Senator  Blair. 

"We've  got  to  get  this  thing  over,"  said  Bur- 
roughs, savagely.  "There's  too  much  talk.  We'll 
be  hung  as  high  as  Haman  or  sent  to  the  pen  for 
twenty  years  if  we  don't  get  a  move  on.  And 
there  are  but  six  days  more  of  the  session.  Give 
Charlie  Blair  his  price — and  be  damned  to  him!" 

"That's  all  right,  Bob,"  retorted  Moore,  an- 
grily. "I'll  give  him  the  money  if  you  say  so. 
But  I  don't  think  the  whole  business  of  being  a 
United  States  senator  is  worth  thirty  thousand 


THE  KEYSTONE 273 

dollars.  And  if  I  do  get  it  to  him  (and  the  Lord 
knows  how  I  can) — what  then?  He  is  sick  in 
bed,  and  who  can  tell  when  he  can  get  to  the 
capital?" 

"Get?  We'll  take  him,  alive  or  dying !  Thirty 
thousand!  It's  my  money,  isn't  it?  You  are 
nothing  out  of  pocket.  Get  it  to  him  while  the 
rest  of  his  folks  are  at  the — the  funeral!"  The 
word  chilled  them  both.  Were  they  responsible 
for  this  death?  "Get  it  to  him!  He'll  keep  it! 
Montana'll  be  too  hot  for  him  from  now  on,  let 
me  tell  you !  He'll  take  the  money,  vote  for  me, 
and  skip — all  in  the  same  day.  There's  been  too 
much  talk  to  be  agreeable  to  a  man  who's  never 
before  been  mixed  up  with  a  woman — except  that 
squaw!"  Burroughs  walked  nervously  back  and 
forth,  then:  "You  wire  me  when  you've  given 
the  money  to  him  and  I'll  come  back.  It'll  all  be 
clear  sailing  then." 

This  delay!  As  Burroughs  reviewed  the  re- 
sults of  his  schemes  he  felt  that  he  had  been  hardly 
used.  Not  so  had  fortune  treated  him  in  the  past. 
Most  of  all  he  bewailed  the  inclusion  of  a  woman 
in  the  necessary  chicanery  of  diverting  votes. 
Catch  him  again  being  over-persuaded  by  Bill 
Moore's  sophistry! 

In  truth  Senator  Blair  had  begun  to  think  that 
he  should  have  to  take  Burroughs'  money.  How 
could  he  ever  face  his  sister,  his  world  again? 


274 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

He  made  sure  that  he  was  not  only  called  a  mur- 
derer, but  that  he  was  one.  He  might  as  well  be 
other  things.  No  appellation  could  be  so  terrible 
as  that  first.  He  would  take  the  thirty  thousand 
dollars  if  it  should  be  forthcoming,  vote  and  take 
the  first  train  west  the  same  day.  In  the  Orient 
he  could  lose  his  identity  as  a  bribe-taker  and  a 
murderer.  The  torture  never  relaxed  during  the 
days  preceding  the  judge's  funeral. 

Late  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day  of  the  burial 
of  the  man  whom  he  had  so  nearly  wronged  the 
senator's  attention  was  drawn  to  a  low  rustle  near 
the  door  opening  from  his  room  to  the  hall  out- 
side. Something  white  and  long  was  being  cau- 
tiously pushed  under  the  door.  Charlie  was 
alone,  and  he  weakly  pulled  himself  to  that  mys- 
terious package.  The  soft  feel  of  it  thrilled  him 
like  brandy.  Burroughs  had  come  to  his  terms! 
He  could  get  away!  But  he  must  previously  ac- 
knowledge before  all  men  that  he  had  been  bought 
at  a  price.  The  odium  ...  A  flirt  of  the 
devil's  tail  brought  a  new  thought  to  his  fevered 
brain — fevered  by  remorse  and  the  effects  of  long- 
continued  and  unwonted  alcoholic  stimulants. 
Suppose  that  he  did  not  vote?  Suppose  that  he 
kept  this  fortune  (he  counted  it  over  to  assure 
himself  of  its  reality),  pleading  his  sickness  until 
the  last  day  of  the  session,  and  go  ...  go 
,..  .  .  The  thought  swung  him  to  uneasy  sleep. 


THE  KEYSTONE 275 

While  he  slept  the  doctor  and  the  senator  from 
Chouteau  came  into  the  room  as  they  returned 
from  the  cemetery.  Blair  had  been  too  much  oc- 
cupied in  his  dizzy  thought  to  remember  to  hide 
his  ill-gotten  money,  and  on  the  white  counterpane 
lay  those  proofs  of  Burroughs'  infamy. 

"Thirty  thousand  dollars!"  gasped  the  doctor, 
in  undertones,  counting  the  large  bills  and  sheafing 
them  in  one  trembling  hand.  "What  shall  we 
do?" 

"Nothing,"  responded  Danvers,  very  quietly. 
"When  Charlie  wakes  I  will  talk  with  him.  I  do 
not  believe  that  he  will  keep  that  money  or  vote 
for  Burroughs." 

"How  fortunate  that  Winifred  did  not  come  in 
with  us!"  said  the  older  man.  "You  stay  here, 
Phil,  and  I  will  keep  her  away  for  an  hour.  He 
will  not  sleep  long.  He  is  too  feverish."  Dan- 
vers nodded  acquiescence,  and  the  physician  tip- 
toed away. 

Before  many  minutes  the  sick  man  awoke. 
Danvers  sat  near  the  bed,  reading  the  evening 
paper.  Blair  looked  around  with  the  impersonal 
eyes  of  the  sick,  then  saw  the  pile  of  bank  notes 
on  the  stand  beside  his  bed.  He  started  and  gave 
a  furtive  look  at  Philip.  Their  eyes  met  squarely. 

"You  will  send  that  money  back,  Charlie." 
The  words  were  not  so  much  query  as  certainty. 
Blair,  shamed,  was  long  in  replying. 


276 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

"I  can't  afford  to,  Danvers,"  he  said  finally. 
"I'm  not  only  a  poor  man,  but  a  ruined  one  as 
well.  I  may  keep  it  and — get  out  of  the  State." 

"And  vote  for  Bob  Burroughs?"  The  head 
of  the  opposition  still  kept  his  calm  acceptance  of 
his  discovery.  Curiously  enough  it  threshed  the 
sick  senator,  after  a  few  words,  into  stubborn 
silence. 

"Maybe  I  will  and  maybe  I  won't.  I  have  the 
money,  and  Bob  or  Bill  will  never  dare  to  ask  for 
it  back.  If  you  ever  see  me  in  the  Assembly  again 
you'll  know  that  I'm  going  to  vote  for  Burroughs 
— curse  him!" 

"Let  me  have  that  money,  Charlie,"  Danvers 
pleaded.  "Think  of  your  sister.  It  will  break 
her  heart  if  you  do  this  thing.  And,"  he  con- 
tinued huskily,  for  he  suddenly  found  that  he  could 
not  control  his  voice,  "hearts  enough  have  been 
broken  over  this  business  of  electing  a  United 
States  senator."  He  reached  out  his  hand,  per- 
suasively, expectantly.  "  I  will  see  that  it  goes  to 
the  men  who  gave  it  to  you." 

But  Senator  Blair  was  obdurate;  and  when 
Philip  left  him  he  felt  that  his  long  fight  was  to 
end  in  defeat,  and  that  Robert  Burroughs  would 
be  elected  by  the  high-priced  vote  of  Winifred's 
brother.  Senator  Danvers  had  kept  in  too  close 
touch  with  the  situation  not  to  know  that  Moore 
would  never  have  paid  such  a  sum  to  Senator  Blair 


THE  KEYSTONE 277 

if  he  were  not  their  last  hope  for  a  majority  of 
even  one. 

The  next  day  of  the  Legislature  Senator  Blair 
was  again  reported  not  present  on  account  of  sick- 
ness, and  William  Moore  thought  it  best  not  to 
show  his  full  strength.  The  next,  and  the  last 
day  of  the  session,  Blair  was  still  absent.  Ballot 
after  ballot  was  taken.  One  by  one  men  re- 
sponded to  the  crack  of  Moore's  whip  and 
changed  their  votes  to  Burroughs,  while  the  spec- 
tators indulged  in  significant  laughter.  One  by 
one  the  several  candidates  withdrew  their  names 
as  their  former  adherents  shamelessly  went  over 
the  fast  increasing  list  for  Burroughs.  Still  Sena- 
tor Danvers  held  most  of  his  men,  and  not  until 
long  after  nightfall  did  the  ballots  come  within 
one  of  electing  Burroughs.  The  last  man  to 
change,  amid  hoots  of  derision,  was  Joseph  Hall. 

Mr.  Burroughs  and  the  Honorable  William 
were  both  in  the  rear  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, for  the  first  time  during  the  session. 

"We  must  get  Charlie  Blair  here!"  hissed  Bur- 
roughs, hearing  Senator  Danvers  make  a  motion 
for  a  ten  minutes'  recess.  Senator  Hall  opposed 
the  motion.  He  did  not  know  that  Senator  Blair's 
vote  would  elect  Burroughs,  or  he  would  not  have 
tried  to  block  Danvers'  desire  to  speak  to  some  of 
the  turncoats.  But  the  motion  prevailed  and  there 
was  much  seeking  of  the  various  places  where  a 


278 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

man  might  refresh  himself  after  such  arduous  toil. 
"He  shall  come,"  continued  the  candidate  for 
Congress,  "if  he  dies  in  the  next  hour!"  Moore, 
feeling  sure  of  the  men  he  had  already  lined  up, 
consented  to  be  the  one  to  bring  the  sick  senator 
from  the  hotel,  only  five  minutes  away. 

In  the  meantime  Senator  Danvers  was  vainly 
trying  to  stem  the  tide.  The  doctor  reported  that 
Senator  Blair  was  in  bed  and  apparently  sleeping, 
so  Philip  was  comparatively  easy.  All  that  re- 
mained for  him  to  do  was  to  see  that  no  other 
man  went  over  to  the  enemy;  and  it  had  been 
agreed  that  the  Legislature  should  adjourn  at  two 
o'clock  that  night. 

Senator  Blair,  meanwhile,  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  get  away  that  very  hour.  No  matter  if 
he  were  too  sick  to  stand,  he  would  get  up  and 
dress,  get  a  carriage  and  go  ...  It  was  bet- 
ter than  staying  and  going  mad.  The  hotel  was 
practically  empty,  he  knew,  for  everybody  who 
could  be  at  the  capitol  was  there  to  witness  the 
closing  hours  of  the  Assembly.  Word  had  spread 
that  Robert  Burroughs  would  surely  be  elected  be- 
fore midnight.  The  whole  city  and  most  of  the 
State's  inhabitants  of  voting  age  and  sex  were 
crowded  into  the  capitol.  Charlie  knew  that 
Winifred  was  with  Mrs.  Latimer  across  the  hall. 
Hurriedly  he  dressed,  trembling  with  fear  and 
physical  weakness,  packed  a  suit  case,  felt  to  see 


THE  KEYSTONE 279 

if  the  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  safe,  and  cau- 
tiously opening  the  outer  door,  peeped  into  the 
hall  to  see  if  the  way  was  clear.  But  it  was  not. 
There  stood  the  Honorable  William,  in  the  very 
act  of  putting  his  hand  on  the  door-knob ! 

"No,  you  don't,  my  beauty!"  snarled  Moore, 
pushing  the  sick  man  back  and  seeing  in  a  glance 
what  was  planned.  "You'll  not  leave  Helena 
until  you've  earned  that  thirty  thousand!  Don't 
you  ever  think  it!  You're  coming  over  to  the 
capitol  right  now,  with  me,  and  vote  for  Bob! 
We  need  you  in  the  business !  And,  if  you  don't, 
by  God  I'll  make  you  sorry  for  it!  It's  come  to 
a  show  down.  This  business  has  killed  Judge 
Latimer  and  it  may  as  well  kill  you — you  miser- 
able, white-livered "  Moore's  language  and 

voice  were  raised  to  the  highest  power. 

"Charlie!"  At  the  disturbance,  Winifred  came 
from  Eva's  rooms.  "You  up — and  out  in  the  hall ! 
What  is  the  trouble?  You  surely  are  not  going  to 
the  capitol  in  your  condition?" 

Blair  was  past  all  words  in  his  rage,  and  Moore 
explained  with  what  grace  he  might  that  it  was 
imperative  for  Charlie  to  cast  his  vote.  Winifred 
insisted  that  she  accompany  them  if  her  brother 
must  go,  and  Moore  did  not  dare  to  delay  long 
enough  to  argue  the  matter.  Every  moment 
counted  now. 

In  the  cab  Winifred,  knowing  nothing  of  the 


28o A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

blood-money  in  her  brother's  pocket,  begged  him 
not  to  vote  for  Mr.  Burroughs.  She  had  heard 
the  last  of  Moore's  tirade.  But  he  would  not 
answer,  and  she  felt  Moore's  foot  seeking  Blair's 
to  freshen  his  resolve.  Though  her  tears  wet 
the  hand  she  held,  it  did  not  return  her  caress. 


AN  UNPREMEDITATED  SPEECH         281 


»V")  ^  nap  let*  J^v,         ^7  < 

bAn  Unpremeditated  Speech 


AS  the  three  entered  the  crowded  chamber 
where  the  joint  assembly  had  been  once 
more  called  to  order,  they  passed  Mr. 
Burroughs,  his  wife  and  daughter.  They  had 
come  from  Butte  to  witness  his  triumph.  Surely 
the  wife  would  congratulate,  the  daughter  be 
proud  of  her  father. 

Moore  was  left  at  the  rail  which  separated  the 
legislators  from  the  spectators,  but  Senator  Blair's 
sister  went  with  him  and  found  a  seat  at  his  side. 
Charlie's  face  was  ghastly,  and  the  doctor,  sur- 
prised beyond  measure  at  sight  of  him,  kept  guard 
with  a  watchful  eye. 

Blair's  entrance  into  the  chamber  with  its  at- 
mosphere of  suspense  drew  every  nerve  taut. 


282 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Senator  Danvers  saw  him  and  his  heart  sank. 
His  efforts  had  been  in  vain!  He  bowed  to  Wini- 
fred, though  he  had  not  seen  even  his  own  sister, 
far  in  the  rear  of  the  hall — there  were  no  gal- 
leries for  spectators. 

It  was  a  moment  long  remembered  by  that 
breathless  crowd.  Men,  drowning,  see  their  whole 
lives  as  in  a  flashlight's  glare.  So  did  Danvers 
see  his  past.  He  was  again  a  boy,  embarking  on 
the  Far  West,  and  he  breathed  the  wet  spring  air, 
blowing  over  prairie  and  river.  He  was  with  the 
men  on  the  upper  deck,  and  noted  their  glances  of 
curiosity.  Their  youth  seemed  never  to  have 
faded,  as  he  remembered  the  delicate  face  of  the 
joyous  Latimer,  the  kind  glance  of  the  doctor,  the 
western  breeziness  of  Toe  String  Joe  and  the 
quieter  manner  of  Scar  Faced  Charlie;  while  the 
debonair  arrogance  of  Sweet  Oil  Bob  stirred  his 
fighting  blood  afresh.  Eva  Thornhill's  beautiful 
face  came,  bewitching  in  its  youth,  and  little  Win- 
nie's trusting  smile  again  reached  his  heart.  Even 
Fort  Benton,  a  busy  port  of  entry,  as  he  first 
saw  it,  and  Wild  Cat  Bill's  drunken  animosity, 
leaped  out  as  the  searchlight  of  recollection  swept 
the  past. 

Then  Memory's  moving  picture  brought  the 
same  faces,  shaded  or  illumined  as  each  tempera- 
ment exposed  its  impulse;  changed  and  moulded 
by  hidden  thoughts,  unexploited  forces  of  charac- 


AN  UNPREMEDITATED  SPEECH         283 

ter  and  assimilated  environment.  Came  a  sigh 
for  Arthur  Latimer,  asleep  after  life's  bright  be- 
ginning and  shadowed  close.  A  thought  of  Eva, 
broken  and  undone ;  of  Winifred 

Every  thought  and  act  of  his  life  led  up  to  this 
moment.  Could  he  let  this  plot  be  consummated? 
Not  while  the  blood  so  pounded  in  his  veins. 
He  must  speak — no  one  else  would.  Outraged 
decency  demanded.  The  honor  of  the  state  de- 
manded. 

He  forgot  that  he  was  an  alien  by  birth — that 
he  must  expose  many  of  his  friends;  it  did  not 
occur  to  him  that  he  had  never  made  a  public 
speech,  that  his  denunciation  would  ruin  his  po- 
litical future  and  would  be  altogether  futile. 
The  disgraceful  contest  had  killed  his  dearest 
friend — driven  the  wife  into  retirement  to  avoid 
the  glare  of  scandal,  and  it  was  likely  to  lose  him 
Winifred. 

His  hand  went  up,  and  the  President  of  the 
Senate  recognized  him.  He  rose. 

"Mr.  President:  I  rise  to  a  point  of  personal 
privilege." 

"The  Senator  from  Chouteau,"  announced  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  joint  assembly,  sur- 
prised but  courteous.  Philip  Danvers  was  not 
one  to  be  ignored,  no  matter  how  inopportune  the 
time.  As  he  stood  there  for  the  moment  silent, 
he  conveyed  the  impression  of  perfect  poise,  and 


284 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  honesty  and  sincerity  of  his  purpose  was  pat- 
ent to  all. 

"Mr.  President:  In  the  struggle  to  elect  a 
United  States  senator  which  has  lasted  this  en- 
tire session  of  our  legislative  assembly,  the  party 
with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  affiliated,  ever 
since  I  foreswore  allegiance  to  my  native  coun- 
try, has,  unfortunately,  never  been  able  to  fix  on 
a  caucus  nominee;  and  I  have  been  forced,  unwil- 
lingly, to  lead  the  minority  of  my  party  against 
the  man  whose  name  led  all  others  in  the  last  bal- 
lot. As  a  result  of  the  division,  the  election  of  a 
senator  has  descended  to  a  contest  of  one  indi- 
vidual, with  the  known  antagonism  of  not  only 
the  best  element  of  his  party,  but  the  ill  will  of 
the  whole  State,  irrespective  of  party. 

"The  shameless  condition  that  this  has  fos- 
tered is  now  familiar  to  every  man  in  the  United 
States.  When  that  politician,  ravenous  for  his 
spoil,  could  not  get  enough  supporters  from  his 
own  party,  he  went  into  the  highways  and  by- 
ways of  Democrats,  Populists  and  Laborites;  he 
gathered  not  only  the  poor  and  needy,  but  some 
few  men  hitherto  possessing  apparent  respecta- 
bility, and  good  standing  at  home  and  abroad. 

"Personal  reasons  have  kept  me  v  silent  on  the 
floor  of  this  house,  however  much  I  may  have 
worked  in  other  ways  against  this  crime.  But 
the  time  has  come  when  I  must  put  aside  all 


AN  UNPREMEDITATED  SPEECH         285 

thought  of  self  in  the  greater  interest  of  the  repu- 
tation of  Montana. 

"Gentlemen:  A  most  outrageous  crime  is  be- 
ing committed  upon  this  State !  I  can  keep  my 
seat  no  longer  while  the  very  walls  reek  with 
bribery!  Yes,  bribery!  No  one  has  dared  to  voice 
that  sinister  word  in  this  Assembly,  but  we  all 
know  that  in  every  hotel  corridor,  on  every  street, 
in  every  home  in  this  State  that  damnable  word 
is  handed  from  mouth  to  mouth  as  claim  and 
counterclaim,  that  certain  men  have  been  pur- 
chased like  cattle  in  open  market,  and  that  they 
would  deliver  themselves  to  a  certain  candidate 
when  called  upon.  They  have  been  called  upon 
to-day!  That  is  why  this  room  is  filled  to  over- 
flowing! The  curious,  the  sensation-seeker  want 
to  look  upon  those  men,  so  lost  to  decency  that 
they  will  rise  here,  and  with  no  blush  of  shame, 
tacitly  admit  that  they  have  been  bought  with  a 
price.  Even  the  open  enemies  of  this  candidate 
have  voted  for  him,  as  the  last  ballot  shamelessly 
proclaimed.  How  one  senator,  opposed  to  the 
candidate  in  every  walk  of  life,  has  been  de- 
bauched, we  can  imagine  as  well  as  though  we 
saw  the  thousands  counted  out  to  him  by  the 
money-changer  who  has  had  charge  of  the  barter- 
ing of  votes." 

As  Danvers  looked  straight  at  Senator  Hall, 
the  bribe-taker  half  rose,  then  sank  back  in  his 


286 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

degradation.  One  thought  sustained  him.  His 
revenge  on  Burroughs  was  nearing  its  hour,  and 
he  felt  that  the  mortification  of  this  bold  accusa- 
tion could  be  endured,  if  that  other  matter  was 
never  traced  to  him.  He  knew  too  well  what  the 
enmity  of  Burroughs  could  compass  to  invite  it 
openly,  and  he  had  become  fearful  of  the  results 
of  his  long-delayed  scheme  of  vengeance. 

Meantime  the  voice  of  the  senator  from  Chou- 
teau  County  went  on,  clear  and  distinct,  creating 
consternation  as  might  the  voice  from  Sinai.  In 
his  earnestness  he  stepped  nearer  the  speaker's 
desk,  and  faced  the  hushed  audience,  fearlessly. 
He  made  no  pretence  of  oratory,  but  his  words 
were  terribly  effective. 

"In  olden  times,  bribers  were  branded,  on  the 
cheek  with  the  letter  B.  If  we  had  the  time,  I 
would  suggest  that  we  pass  a  law,  before  this  ses- 
sion is  over,  to  brand  not  only  the  bribers,  but  the 
bribed  with  a  white-hot  iron,  so  that  the  owner 
might  identify  his  property.  This  brand  should 
be  burned  into  the  political  mavericks  who,  since 
the  convening  of  this  Assembly,  have  run  with 
every  herd,  and  openly  sought  the  highest  bidder 
for  their  worthless  carcasses.  For  these  cattle  of 
unknown  pedigree  I  have  only  words  of  contempt. 

"Mr.  President:  The  state  in  which  we  find 
ourselves  on  this,  the  last  night  of  the  session, 
should  make  us  pause.  We  are  apt  to  be  dim- 


AN  UNPREMEDITATED  SPEECH         287 

sighted  to  our  own  failings,  and  clear-sighted  to 
the  faults  of  others;  but  I  ask  you  in  all  candor, 
do  the  men  who  have  so  nearly  elected  a  United 
States  senator  believe  that  he  is  the  choice  of  the 
State  for  that  high  office,  or  that  he  would  be  con- 
sidered by  that  legislative  body  if  it  were  not  for 
the  influence  of  his  wealth?  We  would  better  be 
unrepresented  in  Congress  than  misrepresented, 
and  I  ask  you,  gentlemen,"  turning  again  to  the 
legislators,  "if  you  are  going  to  vote  again  as  you 
did  in  the  last  ballot,  and  allow  a  sick  man  to 
cast  his  vote  for  Robert  Burroughs  and  thus  elect 
him?  I  know,"  he  added  with  impressive  slow- 
ness, "whereof  I  speak!  That  we  are  Democrats 
or  Republicans,  Labor  or  Fusion,  should  not  fig- 
ure in  this  contest.  Instead,  each  man  should 
consider  whether  we,  a  young  State,  shall  enter 
Washington  tarred  with  the  ineradicable  pitch  of 
bribery  or  shall  we  send  a  man  who  will  show  the 
elder  States  that  Montana  is  proud  of  her  newly 
acquired  statehood,  and  that  no  star  in  the  North- 
west firmament  shines  more  pure? 

"To  those  who  have  allowed  themselves  in  this 
fiery  ordeal  to  swerve  from  their  duty  to  their 
State,  through  the  temptation  of  personal  gain, 
let  me  say  that  they  will  be  branded  and  dishon- 
ored, despised  at  home  and  abroad;  that  they  will 
be  political  pariahs  forever,  unless  they  recon- 
sider their  votes  while  yet  there  is  time.  They 


288 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

have  been  clay,  moulded  on  the  potter's  wheel  of 
the  political  manipulator  behind  whom  the  lead- 
ing candidate  has  worked  his  nefarious  will.  Be- 
cause a  man  is  rich  shall  we  condone  his  base 
acts?  A  poor  man  is  as  likely  to  commit  crime 
as  a  rich  one;  but  he  would  do  so  for  very  dif- 
ferent reasons.  The  rich  man  in  politics,  sins  for 
his  own  self-gratification;  the  poor  man,  to  bet- 
ter himself  or  his  family,  often  not  comprehend- 
ing the  enormity  of  his  crime. 

"So  long  as  I  possess  the  faculties  of  a  man, 
I  purpose  to  fight  against  the  election  of  Robert 
Burroughs  to  a  seat  in  Congress.  I  do  not  want 
it  said  that  I  was  a  State  senator  in  a  Legislature 
which  seated  a  man  so  notoriously  lost  to  a  sense 
of  political  decency  as  he.  I  would  rather  go 
back  to  the  Whoop  Up  Country  to  spend  my  days 
in  toil  and  obscurity,  and  be  able  to  hold  up  my 
head  and  look  the  world  in  the  face." 

For  a  moment  he  paused.  The  awed,  sullen, 
furious  faces  before  him  seemed  individually 
seared  on  his  soul  as  he  swept  the  crowded  room. 
Many  a  man  sat  in  a  cold  sweat  of  fear,  with 
haunted  eyes  and  compressed  lips  that  proclaimed 
his  guilt  with  deadly  certainty. 

For  the  first  time  Philip  became  aware  that  his 
sister  was  present,  and  had  heard  his  denuncia- 
tion of  her  husband.  But  it  was  too  late  to  re- 
tract, and  he  would  not  if  he  could.  Truth- 


AN  UNPREMEDITATED  SPEECH         289 

telling,  like  the  the  cauterizing  of  the  snake's  bite, 
must  sometimes  be  done,  no  matter  what  the  im- 
mediate suffering.  His  eyes  sought  Winifred's, 
misty  with  apprehension,  admiration,  love.  And 
Charlie?  His  temple  pulse  beat  visibly  in  his 
effort  to  control  his  nerves.  His  face  was  fixed 
as  the  face  of  one  dead.  Could  any  appeal  snatch 
him  from  being  the  keystone  of  that  elaborate 
structure  builded  by  Burroughs  and  Moore — so 
nearly  completed?  If  he  refused  to  become  that 
apex,  even  for  this  one  ballot  to  be  called  as  soon 
as  Danvers  finished  speaking,  there  was  a  faint 
hope  that  the  apparently  inevitable  could  be 
averted.  Stepping  nearer  his  colleagues  in  his 
vehemence,  Senator  Danvers  brought  his  unpre- 
meditated speech  to  an  end. 

"For  God's  sake,  are  there  not  men  enough  in 
this  body  to  help  me  to  drive  out  corruption  and 
fraud  and  dishonor,  and  establish  integrity  and 
justice?  I  ask  in  the  name  of  women  and  chil- 
dren, wives  and  sweethearts,  pioneers  and  pos- 
terity! Let  us  not  become  a  disgrace  to  the  na- 
tions of  the  world!  We  can  clean  these  Augean 
stables  by  one  concentrated  effort,  even  as  England 
cleaned  her  corrupt  borough  elections  of  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  ago.  Let  us  fix  on  one  man  who 
will  stand  for  civic  purity,  virtue  and  honor,  no 
matter  what  his  party.  Let  us  elect  a  United 
States  senator  who  is  above  reproach,  above  the 


290 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

taint  of  gaining  a  victory  by  the  downfall  of  his 
fellow  men!  In  the  next  ballot,  let  us  each  vote 
as  his  conscience  dictates!" 

It  was  said.  Senator  Danvers  stepped  back  to 
his  seat  amid  a  buzz  of  blended  approval  and 
hisses,  which  came  to  his  brain  as  the  sound  of 
swarming  bees.  He  felt  sick  and  weak.  His 
appeal  seemed  hopelessly  futile.  But  he  sat  erect, 
with  no  sign  of  discouragement,  and  looked 
fixedly  at  Senator  Blair  in  the  hope  of  seeing 
some  inkling  of  change  from  his  declaration  that 
if  he  came  to  the  capitol  he  should  vote  for  Bur- 
roughs. But  Blair  would  not  look  his  way. 


THE  ELECTION 


291 


DANVERS  did  not  hear  the  clerk  of  the 
Senate  as  he  began  the  roll-call  of  the 
senators  after  the  presiding  officer  had 
rapped  for  order.  The  first  three  men  in  the  A's 
were  irrevocably  opposed  to  Burroughs  and 
Danvers  concentrated  his  whole  thought  on  Sena- 
tor Blair's  change  of  heart. 

While  the  men  preceding  Charlie  were  voting, 
Winifred  whispered  to  her  brother.  He  did  not 
seem  to  hear,  and  his  dazed  eyes  were  still  fixed 
straight  ahead.  The  flaming  red  of  the  scar  made 
his  face  look  still  more  ghastly,  and  at  times  his 
form  swayed  dizzily. 

"Do  not  vote  for  Mr.  Burroughs,"  Winifred 
entreated.  "For  my  sake,  Charlie.  You've  al- 


292 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

ways  been  willing  to  please  me.  Vote  for  any 
one  else.  Philip  expects  your  loyalty.  Vote  for 
him,  even.  Show  him  that  you,  if  no  one  else, 
appreciate  his  courage  in  facing  these  men  and 
denouncing  them  before  the  entire  Assembly." 

"Blair!"  came  the  stentorian  voice  from  the 
desk.  Necks  were  craned  and  men  rose  to  whis- 
per and  to  look  as  this  man's  name  was  called. 
How  would  he  vote?  Burroughs'  throat  grew 
dry  to  suffocation.  Moore's  gaze  was  imper- 
turbable, but  the  muscles  in  his  neck  twitched  per- 
ceptibly, while  sweat  beaded  his  upper  lip.  Dan- 
vers  still  kept  his  eye  on  the  miserably  shaken 
Blair,  and  still  hoped. 

Suddenly  Charlie  turned  and  threw  him  one 
look.  Then  he  rose,  slowly,  with  painful  effort, 
holding  his  sister's  supporting  arm.  He  showed 
the  effect  of  stormy  weeks  of  passion  as  he  stood 
a  moment,  silent. 

"Vote  for  Philip,  Charlie,"  whispered  Wini- 
fred, under  cover  of  assisting  him.  Blair  looked 
around  the  room. 

"Mr.  President,"  he  began,  in  a  trembling 
voice.  "Before  I  cast  my  vote  in  this  ballot,  I 
wish  to  say  that  I  have  listened  to  my  honored 
colleague  from  Chouteau  County  with  mingled 
feelings  of  shame  at  my  own  unworthiness  and 
admiration  for  the  courage  which  had  dared  to 
say  what  every  man  of  us  should  have  said  six 


THE  ELECTION 293 

weeks  ago.  Senator  Danvers  beseeches  us  to 
send  to  Washington  a  man  who  will  guard  the 
fair  name  of  Montana,  who  will  work  for  our 
best  interests,  and  reflect  honor  on  every  inhabi- 
tant of  the  State.  He  asks  us  to  vote  for  one 
above  reproach,  one  who  would  accept  no  position 
at  the  expense  of  his  fellows.  I  am  inclined  to 
give  his  plea  serious  consideration.  But  before  I 
cast  my  ballot,"  his  voice  gained  in  strength  and 
firmness,  and  he  stepped  forward  with  a  gesture 
of  irrevocable  decision  and  placed  upon  the 
speaker's  desk  a  long  white  envelope,  "I  will 
place  here  thirty  thousand  dollars,  to  be  redeemed 
by  the  party  who  shoved  it  under  my  door  two 
days  ago. 

"And  now,"  turning  to  the  gasping  assembly, 
"as  the  senator  from  Chouteau  has  unconsciously 
suggested  the  very  man  to  represent  our  State  in 
Congress — the  man  on  whom,  I  am  sure,  we  can 
all  agree — I  take  great  pleasure,  Mr.  President, 
in  casting  my  vote,  the  first  vote,  for  the  Honor- 
able Philip  Danvers  of  Fort  Benton!" 

Quick  applause  rang  out  as  Blair  took  his  seat, 
and  Winifred  kissed  his  hand  as  it  lay  trembling 
on  his  desk. 

Danvers  gasped  in  dismay.  Had  Blair's  sick- 
ness quite  turned  his  head?  But,  no!  Never  had 
his  eye  been  clearer;  never  had  he  looked  more 


294 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

the  man  as  he  returned  full  and  strong  Philip's 
amazed  gaze. 

Danvers  half  rose  to  protest,  but  the  doctor 
pulled  him  down.  Winifred  began  to  cry  behind 
her  veil  as  the  applause  continued.  A  responsive 
note  had  been  struck.  When  quiet  was  somewhat 
restored,  the  automatic  clerk  called  the  next  name 
— the  name  of  the  senator  who  had  promised  Eva 
his  vote.  Since  Latimer's  death  he  had  heartily 
wished  for  some  excuse  to  be  absolved  from  that 
promise.  Here  was  his  opportunity. 

"Philip  Danvers!"  he  called  loudly,  defiantly, 
perhaps.  He  owed  Burroughs  nothing.  But  as 
a  rolling  stone  gathers  momentum,  so  did  this  un- 
expected addition  to  the  new  name  on  the  list  of 
candidates  give  impetus  to  a  stampede  which  soon 
made  itself  understood,  as  much  to  the  surprise 
of  Blair  as  Danvers. 

"Never  mind,  Bob,"  whispered  Moore, 
hoarsely.  "It's  only  a  spurt  that  will  die  out. 
They  often  run  like  a  flock  of  sheep.  You'll  get 
there  on  the  next  ballot." 

When  Senator  Hall's  name  was  called,  he  rose 
airily.  He  not  only  wished  to  hide  his  hand,  but 
to  get  even  with  Danvers  for  many  an  upright  act 
unconsciously  done  while  they  two  were  troopers 
together  at  Fort  Macleod. 

"I  wish  to  explain  my  vote,"  began  the  lanky 
senator.  "My  esteemed  colleague  from  Chouteau 


THE  ELECTION 295 

County  has  made  a  very  pretty  speech,  intended, 
I  take  it,  for  the  ladies  who  are  honoring  us  with 
their  fair  presence,  and  also  to  enhance  his  own 
reputation.  His  accusations  can  hardly  be  proven. 
And  while  I  voted  for  Burroughs  for  reasons 
which  no  man  has  a  right  to  question,  I  wish  to 
state  that  even  if  I  had  not  so  voted  in  the  past, 
I  should  feel  it  incumbent  on  me  as  a  native  born 
American  to  vote  for  him  at  this  time.  I  do  not 
approve  of  a  foreigner,  an  Englishman,  a  man 
who  has  been  one  of  that  force  across  our  north- 
ern border  which  has  frequently  done  grave  in- 
justice not  only  to  many  of  our  citizens,  but,  I 
(^are  say,  to  Burroughs  himself,  undertaking  to 
teach  us  anything  in  a  political  way." 

O'Dwyer  rose  at  this.  His  red  face  was  redder 
than  ever,  and  he  shook  his  fist  at  the  speaker;  but 
the  doctor  pulled  him  down,  and  he  reluctantly 
subsided.  For  Hall  to  speak  thus  of  the  North 
West  Mounted  Police  when  he  had  been  drummed 
out  of  the  force ! 

"I  may  also  say,"  went  on  Hall,  "that  I  believe 
this  thirty  thousand  dollars  (if  there  is  such  a 
sum  of  money  in  the  envelope  which  Senator  Blair 
has  just  placed  on  the  desk)  was  put  up  for  the 
purpose  of  stampeding  the  Assembly  for  this  man 
who  professes  to  be  so  honest  and  so  upright — 
Senator  Danvers!" 


296 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Hisses  came  from  all  over  the  room,  but  Hall 
was  impervious. 

"Mr.  President:  I  hereby  make  my  protest 
against  such  spectacular  performances  by  casting 
my  vote,  altogether  uninfluenced,  for  the  Honor- 
able Robert  Burroughs,"  he  gave  a  quick  glance 
to  the  rear  of  the  room  where  a  new  group  had 
just  crowded  in,  "and  I  defy  anyone  to  detect  4a 
blush  of  shame'  on  my  brow." 

The  speech  and  the  bravado  fell  flat.  The 
crowd  was  not  with  this  bribe-taker.  The  voting 
proceeded,  and  Danvers'  name  was  spoken  with 
gusto  by  many  who  thought,  on  the  next  ballot, 
to  return  to  their  respective  candidates. 

"Philip  Danvers!"  yelled  Representative 
O'Dwyer,  hardly  waiting  for  his  name  as  the  rep- 
resentatives were  called.  "Danvers!  Danvers! 
Danvers!"  he  repeated,  in  a  frenzy  of  friendly 
fervor.  Pounding  feet  and  canes  accentuated  the 
Irishman's  cry. 

"You've  given  him  the  deciding  vote, 
O'Dwyer!"  shouted  the  doctor,  forgetting  deco- 
rum in  the  delirium  of  the  moment.  He  had  kept 
close  check  on  the  various  candidates  while  the 
angry  Moore  and  Burroughs,  purple  and  speech- 
less, stood  aghast,  not  believing  that  this  flurry 
could  abolish  the  results  of  their  expensive  cam- 
paign. 

"Philip  Danvers  it  is!"  yelled  O'Dwyer,  over- 


THE  ELECTION 297 

joyed,  leaping  to  the  top  of  his  desk  and  jumping 
madly.  "Danvers  forever!  Hooray!" 

"Danvers!  Danvers!  Danvers!"  The  name 
was  taken  up  as  a  slogan  by  the  cheering  legisla- 
tors and  citizens — men  and  women  alike.  Shouts 
and  hisses,  congratulations  and  curses,  laughter 
and  consternation  mingled  over  this  unexpected 
denouement  of  the  long-drawn-out  contest. 

The  speaker's  gavel  came  near  to  breaking,  and 
the  desk  was  cracked  before  the  tumult  could  be 
quieted  sufficiently  to  proceed  with  the  balloting. 

The  remaining  numbers,  almost  to  a  man,  voted 
for  Danvers;  and  when  O'Dwyer  moved  that  the 
vote  be  made  unanimous,  the  noise  and  enthusiasm 
which  had  preceded  was  as  silence  to  what  fol- 
lowed when  the  motion  was  put,  seconded  and 
carried,  that  Philip  Danvers  of  Fort  Benton  be 
declared  unanimously  elected  as  the  United  States 
senator  from  Montana  to  fill  the  vacancy  for  the 
four  years  beginning  March  four,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  ninety . 

Even  Senator  Hall  joined  the  majority — for 
did  he  not  already  have  his  money  safely  in- 
vested? Besides,  he  could  be  censured  by  Bur- 
roughs no  more  than  many  others  who  had  taken 
his  money  and  betrayed  him. 

"Speech!  speech!"  yelled  the  crowd.  But  Dan- 
vers could  not  speak. 

"Let  us  go,"  whispered  Mrs.  Burroughs,  as  the 


298 A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

demonstration  continued.  She  looked  half  in 
scorn,  half  in  pity,  on  her  husband,  frustrated  in 
the  ambition  of  years  by  the  man  he  most  hated — 
her  brother.  "Let  us  go,  Robert,"  she  repeated. 

The  young  daughter  crept  nearer  and  clasped 
her  father's  icy  hand.  She  did  not  understand  the 
accusations  made  against  a  father  who  had 
shown  her  nothing  but  love. 

"Better  luck  next  time,  Bob,"  consoled  Moore. 
"Don't  let  everybody  see  how  hard  hit  you  are. 
Danvers  is  elected  only  for  the  short  term,  you 
know — four  years." 

Choking,  Burroughs  attempted  to  force  his  way 
through  the  cheering,  struggling  mob,  and  to  clear 
a  path  for  his  wife  and  daughter.  But  as  the 
crowd  gave  way,  in  deference  to  the  women,  a 
new  obstruction  presented  itself. 

Robert  Burroughs  did  not  recognize  the  slouch- 
ing, dirty  buck  blocking  his  way  as  Me-Casto,  the 
once  haughty  pride  of  the  Blackfeet  federation,  or 
the  obese,  filthy  squaw  as  Pine  Coulee.  The  work 
of  civilization  had  obviously  been  in  vain.  But 
this  tall,  strapping  'breed  reaching  out  his  un- 
washed hand!  Burroughs  gazed  at  a  replica  of 
himself  as  he  had  been  at  Fort  Macleod. 

"Him  you  father?"  questioned  the  half-breed, 
addressing  the  frightened  daughter.  He  had  been 
well  coached  by  the  grinning  McDevitt,  so  close 
behind  him. 


THE  ELECTION 299 

"She  you  mother?"  He  pointed  to  Kate  Dan- 
vers,  high  bred  and  aristocratic  in  her  scorn. 

"She  my  mother,"  the  'breed  went  on,  fiend- 
ishly, indicating  the  toothless,  loathsome  squaw, 
whose  vindictive  eyes  never  wavered  from  Bur- 
roughs' craven  face.  "Him  both  our  father!" 
The  common  parent  was  given  a  fillip  of  a  con- 
temptuous thumb  and  finger. 

Burroughs  could  not  look  at  his  wife,  but  he 
threw  a  furtive  glance  at  the  flower-like  face  of 
his  daughter.  Her  look  of  terror  and  of  shame 
was  more  than  he  could  bear.  Before  all  men  he 
had  been  confounded;  before  the  wife  whose  love 
he  had  never  won,  his  own  passion  proving  his 
torment;  before  his  daughter,  the  idol  of  his 
heart. 

As  the  surge  of  curious  men  pressed  nearer  he 
saw  the  malevolent  joy  of  Joseph  Hall  and  of 
Chaplain  McDevitt,  and  he  knew  who  had 
planned  his  disgrace.  He  saw  Danvers,  vainly 
striving  to  reach  his  sister. 

"Let  me  out!"  came  in  a  thick  gurgle  from  his 
swelling  throat.  Something  in  his  face  made  the 
throng  give  way  and  Moore  quickly  pushed  him 
outside  into  the  midnight  cold. 

"Go  back  for  my  wife  and  daughter,"  Bur- 
roughs commanded.  "Go  back!" 

The  street  was  empty,  for  everybody  had  stayed 
within  the  capitol  to  feast  on  the  sensation  of  the 


3QQ A  MAN  OF  TWO  COUNTRIES 

Indians  and  the  fainting  women.  Moore  hesi- 
tated. 

"They'll  be  right  out,  Bob.    Let  me  call  a  cab." 

"Go!"  The  old,  imperious  fire  came  from  the 
deep-set  eyes. 

Moore  had  no  sooner  turned  his  back  to  obey 
than  a  pistol  shot  broke  the  stillness. 

The  rabble  poured  from  the  capitol  at  the  sound 
of  the  shot.  Moore,  the  only  friend  that  Bur- 
roughs ever  had,  raised  his  companion.  The  plot- 
ting and  planning  was  over.  Robert  Burroughs, 
having  forced  his  way  through  life's  stockade, 
stepped  out,  alone,  into  the  Dark  Trail. 

In  the  confusion  of  that  midnight  scene  Dan- 
vers  was  conscious  of  but  one  desire,  held  in 
abeyance  by  the  tragic  necessities  of  the  moment. 
At  last  the  surging  crowd  dispersed,  the  officers 
of  the  law  performed  their  hasty  duty,  and  Moore 
drove  away  in  a  closed  carriage  with  Mrs.  Bur- 
roughs and  her  daughter. 

Then  Danvers  turned  wearily,  eagerly,  like  a 
man  famished  and  athirst,  to  the  woman  who 
meant  peace  and  rest  and  inspiration. 

She  stood  in  the  dim  light,  clinging  to  her 
brother's  arm,  while  the  doctor  waited  beside  the 
carriage. 

Charlie  reached  out  a  trembling  hand  and 
looked  into  Philip's  face.  Then  he  bent  and 
kissed  his  sister,  and  gently  withdrawing  his  arm, 


THE  ELECTION  301 

gave  her  to  Danvers.  The  doctor  hurried  the 
sick  man  into  the  carriage,  and  it  drove  into  the 
night. 

The  lovers  clung  together  like  tired,  frightened 
children,  and  walked  silently. 

"It  is  all  over,"  said  Winifred,  at  last. 

"No,  dear  one;  it  is  just  begun!" 


TRAILS  THROUGH 
WESTERN  WOODS 

By  HELEN  FITZGERALD  SANDERS 

The  author-artist  gives  us  an  idyl  of  forest  trails,  cloud-swept 
mountains,  glacier-born  cascades,  gentle  Selish  and  heart-broken 
Indian  chiefs,  born  to  learn  their  day  is  past.  The  book  will 
widen  the  circles  of  those  who  regret  the  passing  of  the  brave, 
free  Jife  of  the  wilderness. 


"The  author  deserves  the  gratitude  of  the  American  nation  for  capturing: 
the  nebulous  star-mist  of  its  beginnings— and  that  which  went  before." 

— N.  T.  Timet. 

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THE   BRAND 

A  Story  of  the  Flaihead  Reservation 
By  THERESE  BRODERICK 

This  first  novel  by  a  new  writer  is  worth  reading.  One 
feels,  as  they  read,  as  if  he,  too,  were  living  the  un- 
trammeled  life  of  Cat tl eland. 


EXT  R ACTS 


It  is  evident  the 
author  felt  the 
fascination  of  the 
mountains  and 
the  wide  plainsof 
the  west,  and 
wiost  of  the  best 
pages  of  the  book 
are  those  in  which 
she  infuses  the 
written  word 
with  their  charm. 
— N.  F.  Times. 
The  descriptions 
are  seldom  equal- 
ed and  the  plot  is 
well  developed. 
"TheBrand"will 
rank  as  one  of  the 
best  novels  of  rc- 
centyears. 
—  Wettern  News. 


IHEBWD 


A  Story 

or  the 
Flat  he  ad  IV*er»« 


EXTRACTS 


"The  Brand"  is 
instinct  with  the 
romantic  spirit  of 
the  west.  It  will 
be  read  with  in- 
terest to  the  end. 
—  Oregonian. 

"The  Brand"  is 
splendidly  writ- 
ten and  is  better 
tl\:m  "The  Vir- 
ginian." 

—Kalifpell  Bee. 

"The  Brand"  is 
good,  refreshing 
and  wholesome. 
It  takes  me  back 
to  God's  country. 
B.  E.  mfov,  M.D., 
London,  £/ig. 


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Blackfoot  hero  are  new  in  fiction  but  not  in  the  West. 
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The  TEMPTATION 
OF  ST.  ANTHONY 

By  GUSTAVE    FLAUBERT 

Translated  by  LAFCADIO  HEARN  Introduction  by  ELI/.ABETH  BISLAND 


This  translation  of  the  great  French  masterpiece,  which 
has  been  called  "The  Epic  of  the  Human  Soul's  Search 
for  Truth,"  was  recently  discovered  among  Lafcadio 
Hearn's  posthumous  papers.  The  whole  tendency  of 
Hearn's  tastes  fitted  him  especially  of  all  writers  to  turn 
that  masterpiece  into  its  true  English  equivalent. 

The  tortured  Saint  is  whirled  by  vertiginous  visions 
through  cycles  of  man's  efforts  to  know  why?  whence? 
whither?  He  assists  at  the  terrifying  rites  of  Mithra, 
the  prostrations  of  serpent- worshippers  of  fire,  of  light, 
of  the  Greek's  deified  forces  of  nature,  of  the  Northern 
enthronement  of  brute  force  and  war.  Plunges  into 
every  heresy  and  philosophy,  sees  the  orgies,  the  flagel- 
lations, the  self-mutilations,  the  battles  and  furies  of 
sects,  each  convinced  it  has  found  the  answer  to  the 
Great  Question.  His  experiences  startlingly  reproduce 
the  scientific  and  spiritual  researches  of  the  man  of 
to-day. 

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PATHFINDER  AND  PATRIOT 
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CHAPERONING  ADRIENNE 
THROUGH  the  YELLOWSTONE 

By  ALICE  HARRIMAN 

Particularly  appealing  to  any  person  who  either  has  been,  wants 
to,  or  can't  go  through  the  famous  Yellowstone  Park.  A  gay 
comedy  of  vacation  happiness  and  nonsense  interspersed  with 
rare  descriptions. — Oregonian. 


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SONGS  <V  THE  SOUND.  By  ALICE  HARRIMAN.  Illustrated.  Hand-painted 
leather,  $2.00  net;  limp  leather,  $2.50. 

The  book  appeals  at  once  as  a  strikinsrly  beautiful  souvenir  as  well  as  a  re- 
markable contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  Northwest.— Seattle  Times. 
SDX'ns  'O  THE  OLYMPICS.  By  AI.ICK  HARRIMAN.  Illustrated.  Boards, 
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ese yoid  and  silver  art  embroidery,  $3.50. 

You  have  here  struck  several  new  notes— the  rarest  thins:  in  American 
poetry.— Robert  Underwood  Johnson,  Editor  of  Century  Magazine. 
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MRS.  FEATHERWEIGHT'S 
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By  JOHN  BRADY 


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Lyrics  of  Fir  and  Foam 

By  ALICE  ROLLIT  COE 


"How  desolate  it  stands  upon  the  slope 
Of  yonder  hill."— The  Deserted  Cabin 


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Lyrics  of  Fir  and  Foam 

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attractive  souvenir  of  the  Puget  Sound  country.  The 
lyrics  are  destined  to  a  high  place  in  the  literature  of 
the  West. 

THE  DESERTED  CABIN 

How  desolate  it  stands  upon  the  slope 

Of  yonder  hill;  the  vacant  windows  stare; 

No  curtain  sways;  no  eager  welcome  waits 
From  smiling  faces  there. 

The  path  is  overgrown,  and  through  the  grass, 
Self-sown,  the  pansies  from  their  border  stray; 
And  thick  athwart  the  door  the  ivy  shade 
Grows  deeper  day  by  day. 

And  such  my  life  since  you  have  left;  the  rain 
Unheeded  falls,  the  sun  shines  as  of  old, 
But  lingers  not  in  all  the  dreary  rooms 
To  touch  your  hair  to  gold. 

And  yet,  a  little  vine  of  memory 

Clings  round  the  doorway  where  your  garments  swept; — 
Close  to  the  threshold  where  your  footfall  passed, 
Forget-me-nots  have  crept. 

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THE  MASTER  ROAD 

By  CARLIN  EASTWOOD 


GRATIA  DREXLER,  wealthy,  socially 
elect,  obeys  an  impulse  toward  ex- 
pression leading  her  to  active  settlement 
work  in  the  slums.  Blindly  treading  her 
sweet  way,  she  set  in  motion  forces  whose 
action  and  reaction  on  her  and  on  Hartley 
Taine  is  herein  told  with  a  repression  ad- 
mirable in  its  resultant  heart-grip  and 
dramatic  tenseness. 

The  reader  will  live  every  hour  of  happi- 
ness and  grief,  pain  and  joy  portrayed  with 
such  sure  touch. 

THE    MASTER    ROAD 

will  be  a  greater  play  than  "Salvation 
Nell. ' '  Dramatic  rights  secured  by  America's 
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The  SUPERINTENDENT 

By   IRENE    WELCH    GRISSOM 


New  Characters,  Scenes  and  Theme 


A  strong  story  of  the  Sawmill  Country  in  Western 
Washington.  Redolent  of  fir,  cedar,  and  hemlock  as 
the  whirring  saws  let  loose  the  stored  perfume  of  the 
growth  of  centuries. 

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CHRONICLES  o/OLDFIELDS 

By   THOMAS   N.    ALLEN 

A  delightfully  sympathetic  tale  of  four  old  ante-bellum 
Kentuckians.  Men's  friendship  has  never  before  been 
portrayed  with  such  literary  delicacy  and  charm. 

We  have  printed  this  charming  narrative  in  clear  type, 
on  good  paper  and  bound  it  artistically.  Introduction  by 
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inserted  an  excellent  likeness  of  Judge  Allen,  the  author. 

You  will  read  these  CHRONICLES  more  than  once. 
It  is  worthy  of  a  second  reading. 

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THE     ROAD    of    LIFE 

A  Dramatic  Poem,  by  Marion  Couthouy  Smith.  With 
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